Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Apple is one crazy company. What other business would deliberately leak negative and unflattering information about themselves, just to keep their name and their products buzzing through the blogosphere?
They hedge, obfuscate, and flat-out contradict themselves between their official announcements and “insider” leaks. When you’re a global industrial behemoth with a proven record of excellence, I guess there really isn’t such a thing as “bad publicity”. As long as people keep talking about you.
Latest case in point is a report quoting an Apple “insider” saying the Apple Watch would be “lucky to ship by Valentines Day”. Although Apple’s September 9 announcement said only that the Apple Watch would go on sale in “early 2015”, most assumptions were that Apple was bypassing the holiday season in order to become the big story of the post-holiday season.
After hearing this, one is inclined to expect another “leak” in January saying the Apple Watch may not be available until Spring or Summer 2015.
Of course, there’s plenty of speculation as to what is causing the delay. Clearly the Apple Watch is not ready for launch. CEO Tim Cook said as much on Sept. 9. Many people suspect that the problems revolve around the battery, which Apple has been very tight-lipped about, and that the company is still figuring out ways to extend the duration of the charge beyond 24 hours.
Others suggest that the problem may be with the sapphire glass, which is a difficult and expensive component to produce. Apple was unable to produce the material for the iPhone 6 as they had hoped, but find themselves committed to it for the Apple Watch.
Another interesting theory making the rounds is that Apple is waiting to make a blitz of television advertising for the Apple Watch during January and February’s huge TV events: NFL and College Football playoffs, the Super Bowl, and the Academy Awards. It’s worth remembering that Apple first aired an ad for the first iPhone during the 2007 Oscars telecast, even though the device didn’t hit the shelves until June of that year.
That’s showbiz, folks. Leave ’em wanting more… or wanting something.