The 25 Craziest Apple Rumors of All Time

When it comes to gossip in Silicon Valley, there’s only one tech company that makes people conjure up the most wild and crazy canards—Apple, Inc. Ever since the company brought back its CEO, Steve Jobs, the Cupertino clan has been the subject of some of the most bizarre, yet intriguing rumors ever created. Take, for example, the iPad 2 that's being announced later today. For months, every tech site (including this one) reported each and every report made about the upcoming tablet and the features it may or may not have—two cameras, bigger speaker, HD screen, smaller size—every claim made the news. But that's just how it goes. Apple's secrecy has helped build the ever-enticing enigma that has kept the public on the edge of its seats waiting for Steve Jobs and Co. to announce its next great thing. From

large corporation buyouts to the latest whispers surrounding its i-catalog, we

rank The 25 Craziest Apple Rumors of
All-Time.

Source: Engadget (2006)

Engadget made it specifically clear that it usually ignores a majority of the rumors that hit the Internet. But after

receiving info from two trusted sources close to the Apple camp, the tech site entertained the thought of a wireless video iPod with widescreen support. Just one month before this rumor hit the net, Apple had announced a new Nano and Shuffle, which lead many of us to think the company had

more high-end products in-store. Five years later and still nothing. Well, unless you consider the wi-fi enabled iPod Touch a wireless, widescreen video iPod. Which, coincidentally, many do.

Source: PC
Magazine (2006)

PC Mag writer John Dvorak was nearly crucified for his remarks about Apple ditching its OS X system and switching over to Windows. The tech columnist said the switch would be "the most phenomenal turnabout in the

history of desktop computing." Powerful statement. To back up his argument, Dvroak brought up Apple’s switch to Intel chips and its dropping of FireWire

support for its iPods. While the company has worked on letting Mac users run Windows apps

on its machines, there has been no signs or indication of Microsoft's operating system replacing Apple's. We'll much sooner see Charlie Sheen on Sesame Street before we see an Apple computer running Windows.

Source: Radar Online (2006)

Radar Online caught everyone's attention when it claimed a rep for Justin Long said he would no longer play Apple’s pitchman in the addictive "I’m a Mac" commercials: "There's

no long-term deal with him...Justin's a movie star, not a commercial guy."

That was shot down real quick as the entertainer jumped on his own site, Justin ONLINE, to clear things up: “I

don’t know where that report came from that said i wasn’t going to do anymore—i was

literally setting my alarm right now to wake up for a mac shoot tomorrow.“ No offense to dude, but him appearing in those Apple commercials was the best thing to happen to his career since Jeepers Creepers.

Source: PowerPage (2006)

Blogger and publisher of PowerPage.org, Jason O'Grady, spread hearsay about possible 42- and

50-inch Apple plasma TVs being announced at the Macworld Expo 2006. The computer-based television sets would range from $2599 to $3299 and include Mac OS 10.4.4, LCS support, a 12-button remote, and DVI-HDCP and VGA hookups. That obviously never came to fruition. Five years later, with a revamped AppleTV on the market, rumors of an Apple HDTV have begun to pop up again. Some things never change.

Source: ThinkSecret (2003)

“Apple will announce the new

pocket-size iPods in a number of capacities and in various colors, including

stripes. Capacities will be 2 and 4GB—meaning users could store some 400 and

800 songs, respectively. Prices will start at around $100US,” stated the Apple

rumor site. Funny. It wasn’t until a few years later that we could purchase an

iPod for the asking price of one Benjamin, and that was the Shuffle. And Apple has yet to show any signs of dropping the nano below the $150 mark. Or making anything with stripes.

Source: Computerworld (2009)

Those familiar with Apple’s first venture into the photography market with the QuickTake camera might find some comic relief in this rumor. “I think Apple might be getting ready to re-enter the digital

camera business it pioneered in 1994 and then abandoned in 1997," said Seth Weintraub, blogger for

Computerworld. “Apple is said to be purchasing many three and five megapixel

camera CCDs from Omnivision for upcoming embedded products...Five Megapixel

cameras are good enough to challenge entry-level point-and-clicks for still

photography and at the same time record HD video.” He was right about the

next-gen iPhones having better cameras, but was so far gone with his digital camera jargon.

Source: MacRumors (2006)

MacRumors.com

kept the gossip mill brewing after stating that a reliable source provided a detailed description for one of two iPhone models. The handset was presumed to have a small screen and click-wheel interface like the iPod, along with a slide-down mechanism that unveiled a

numeric dial-pad. Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora also co-signed the prototype. Judging by these replicas, we’re glad the

touchscreen model was the preferred choice.

Source:
eWeek (2003)

Back in the day, Apple patented a graphics interface called Piles, which was described as "a less rigid categorization system." It was a concept that

was supposed to provide flexible organization for items and make

browsing through folders super easy. Rumors had Piles being featured in a revised

version of the Panther OS in 2003, with eWeek implying that Apple's goal was to “put the user at the center of its next major release.” The company realized Piles required more work and folded the project a few years later.

Sources: eWeek (2003), MacNET

V2 (2004)

Before the Macworld

Expo 2002, pictures and videos of a silver palm device with a jog-dial

controller appeared on the net and was being pushed as Apple's new PDA: the iWalk. One year later, writer Dan

Gillmore of the San Jose Mercury News shared the same theory by saying the calendar

application on the machine was evidence that Apple had a PDA on the horizon. Absent

from the Macworld Expo 2003, website MacNET V2 reignited the rumor one year later, claiming the unreleased gadget was now called the iNote and ran “an OS

X-like OS” with “full integration with iCal, Mail, Address Book, iSync,

etc.” Jobs informed everyone in 2004 that Apple was working on a device, but never shipped

it because it sucked. Which model was Jobs referring to? No one knows, but whatever it was, it turned into the iPad.

Source: TechCrunch, Valleywag (2009)

Facebook,

Google, and Microsoft all tried to purchase the microblogging service, but

none of them came as close as Apple, according to the rumor mill. An undisclosed Apple source claimed both companies were in serious negotiations to strike a deal for as much as $700 million. There was word that Apple would make an announcement during its Worldwide Developers Conference, but the rumored deal never went through. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone denied the buyout rumors, saying, "We're just getting started. The company is two years old, we have so much to do, so much product stuff to fix, and so much growing to do."

Source: Apple Insider (2006)

Coming up on its 30th Anniversary, Apple fans

were having flashbacks of the TAM (20th Anniversary Mac) and had

high hopes of the company releasing a commemorative desktop for the

celebration. AppleInsider let the rumor loose on April Fools Day, which ironically

happened to be the company’s anniversary date, duping many to believe that Apple would make some sort of announcement. They were wrong. While the limited edition desktop was considered a tech landmark in 1997, the overpriced machine suffered from poor sales and never captured consumers interests. No sense repeating that mistake.

Source: AppleInsider (2009)

Mac owners have always clamored for Blu-ray support, and

were extremely hyped over whispers that the new line of iMacs would carry

Blu-ray drives and be available through custom orders. Those dreams were crushed after Jobs explained the company's stance on the high-density optical discs, saying it would lose in the

long run to piracy and free media outlets: "Blu-ray is

looking more and more like one of the high-end audio formats that appeared as the

successor to the CD—like it will be beaten by Internet downloadable formats…And

the downloadable movie business is rapidly moving to free (Hulu) or rentals

(iTunes) so storing purchased movies or TV shows is not an issue.” There you have it.

Source: CNET UK (2006)

Before building the App Store, it seemed

like Steve Jobs wanted a piece of Satoru Iwata’s gaming empire. Reports had the

Cupertino clan interested in purchasing a videogame company with an infrared beam set on the Mushroom Kingdom. Those who remember Apple’s

last gaming attempt, 1995's Bandai Pippin, saw the

multimedia platform fail miserably against the likes of the PlayStation, Sega

Saturn, and N64. Considering the gaming giant increased profits

nearly every year, it seemed highly doubtful that we would ever experience Mario launching

fireballs at gommbas on our touchscreen i-devices. Well, not unless you downloaded an NES emulator for your iPhone.

Source: Inquisitr (2008)

Apple

selling MacBooks for less than $1,000? Ha! We wish. But according to

Inquisitr.com, it had received a new price sheet from Apple that listed 12 price

points ranging from $800 to $3,100 for all MacBooks. No

specs were included on the sheet. Analyst Gene Munster from investment bank Piper Jaffray noted that if Apple sold notebooks at the discounted price, company stock would take a plunge. A cost efficient Macbook would definitely shift PC users to Macs, but strong sales over the past few years have kept Apple from dropping prices.

Source: Digitimes (2010)

Ever since Samsung released the 7-inch Galaxy Tab late last

year, there’s been chatter about Apple adapting a smaller

screen size for the upcoming iPad 2. Jobs made his opinion crystal clear during a fourth quarter conference call and labeled 7-inch tablets “useless” and “dead on

arrival." He also mentioned that those tablets had half the surface area of the

iPad and users would not be able to enjoy the same experience. And since Steve Jobs has a history of doing things he said his company never would, we'll just have to wait and see.

Source: London Evening Standard (2010)

It was last year when the rumor mill spewed

this one out. ARM, the leading handheld chip creator responsible for the

architecture found in the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP, was considered a potential

asset for Apple. But being that the CPU manufacturer is working with Apple's competitors,

this would have made for some serious drama in the handheld wars. No deal ever took place. Experts saw this as an unnecessary move, especially since Apple was already developing its own technology with the A4 CPU, which runs on the iPad and iPhone 4.

Source: The Apple Blog (2005)

Before revealing the

energy-efficient Mac Mini at the Macworld Expo 2005, pics and videos of the

iHome Media Center made its way onto several tech sites. The media appliance

was suppose to stream video, audio, and pictures from all Apple products, plus sport a 450GB hard drive, SuperDrive, 5.1 Digital audio output, and HDMI inputs and outputs. It was also approximated at $1,500 with an unknown

release date. ThinkSecret called bullshit after noticing the device was packaged in an iBook box, featured the wrong

font, and misspelled "center." Another exposed mock-up.

Source: L.A. Times (2003)

Lets see.

Apple dropping $6 billion to purchase one of the five biggest record labels in

the world—yeah, right. The L.A. Times reported that both companies were in talks for

a few months, and after word spread of a possible acquisition, Apple’s share

price dropped to a five-year low. How ironic is it that during the negotiation period Apple was developing its own digital music service, iTunes. You might have heard of it.

During a

second quarter conference call, Jobs made everything clear by saying, “Apple has never made any offer to invest in or acquire a major music

company.”

Source: Apple Insider (2007)

After the successful launch of the iPhone,

Apple Insider reported that Jobs and his development team were working on a new PDA for nearly 18 months. "Well-respected sources” informed the site that the device (labeled the Newton II) would run an embedded version

of the Leopard OS, featured a high-resolution screen, and be 1.5 times the size

of the iPhone. Mock-up images would soon follow. It was also mentioned that an

announcement would come as early as January 2008 during the Macworld Expo

and ship sometime midyear. The presumed Newton II didn't hit store shelves and

was never mentioned by Apple, but we did get the iPad, which, if you think about it, is the new-age Newton. Touche, Apple. Touche.

Source:
The Wall Street Journal (2011)

The

News Corp. publication thought it had an inside track on the next-gen iPhone,

reporting that Apple was working on a nano version of its smartphone codenamed the N97. But The New York Times dug deeper into the story and discovered the nickname was already designated to Verizon's iPhone 4. The Times also quoted

unnamed sources involved with Apple and stated that the person said "Apple was

not planning to introduce a smaller iPhone any time soon." Rumors of an iPhone Nano are still premature, but the Times makes interesting points of a smaller handset being too difficult to navigate and costing Apple more in manufacture expenses. However, Apple's COO, Tim Cook, recently hinted that Apple does, indeed, want to expand its mobile reach. We'll see if it gets the Nano treatment this summer.

Source: Barron’s (2010)

These Apple buying everyone stories never get old. The

grapevine leaked this one after an Oct. 20, 2010 interview with former Apple CEO John

Sculley, who revealed to Bloomberg that Steve Jobs had admired Sony for 25 years and wanted Apple to be more like the electronics giant and less

like Microsoft. Soon

after, talks surfaced about a possible acquisition, Sony declined all comments. Last year, analysts revealed Sony's market value was estimated at less than $34 billion with Apple being a clear front runner to purchase the electronics giant. But many feared the deal would create a hostile environment for the Japanese market. The Japenese are pro-Sony. Duh.

Source: tw.apple.pro (2011)

A Taiwanese blog recently spread some gossip about Apple

testing three different prototypes for the iPhone 5. One of the models supposedly features a slide-out keyboard. Another includes an iPhone 4 with an

upgraded battery and 8MP camera. It’s all fiction for now, but knowing Apple's devotion to its highly responsive touchscreen and intuitive

interface, odds are the company has no interest in attaching a QWERTY keyboard to its next-gen smartphone. Then again, we don't know what Apple really has up its sleeves.

Source: MacDaily News (2008)

Right after Apple's capacitive touchscreens took the tech world

by storm, a source for MacDaily News said that a laptop with full-featured multi-touch functionality would be released in October 2008. The rumored specs called for a

smaller screen with scratch-resistant glass similar to the iPhone

along with App Store support. While no announcement was ever made, it was revealed that Apple patented a device of sorts in 2010, but Jobs shot down the copyright claim during

his keynote speech for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. A new patent has since emerged and features the MacBook converting into a tablet-like device. We doubt that's going to happen, as well.

Source: CNN/iReport (2008)

A

citizen reporter for CNN’s online journalism domain had the Internet buzzing

over a report that Apple's CEO suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the

emergency room. The news network, after discovering the story was a farce, referred to the content as “fraudulent” and

removed it from its site. After the story broke, Apple’s share price

dropped. The

SEC launched an investigation and discovered that a teenager was the culprit behind the post. The dangers of citizen journalism reared its ugly head once again.

Source: AppleInsider (2004)

In February 1999,
it was rumored that Disney had plans of purchasing Apple and Pixar, placing Steve
Jobs as the CEO of the triple-company. Five years later during the
iPod succession, Apple's financial worth skyrocketed and the tables turned, as new rumors surfaced that Apple would make a bid for the entertainment giant. And with Jobs being Disney's biggest stockholder, everything seemed in place for a buyout. But no deal ever transpired. Besides, what would Apple do with a theme park?