- Engadget gets an email saying the iPhone will be delayed until October and that Leopard will also be delayed.
- Engadget writes about it saying it came from a “trustworthy source.”
- Apple’s stock drops $4.47 per share in eight minutes ($4 billion off the market cap).
- Oops. The email was fake.
Engadget says “Presumably Apple is now on the hunt for whomever was able to spoof its internal email system.”
Engadget Screwed Up
In my opinion, this was bad journalism by Engadget (Ryan Block) and not a good thing for blogs. It would have taken them a few minutes to call and let Apple know what they were sitting on and that they were planning on running it. Apple could have at least had a second to say “this was a fake.” I think Engadget may have hurt its relationship with Apple here.
My guess is Engadget realized they weren’t the only ones who received the email, and they wanted to put it out as fast as possible. So, about that “we have it on authority” part . . .