Xbox leaks and reporting
p2pnet.net News:- It`s interesting that although leaks about Microsoft`s Xbox 360 started appearing shortly before its `official` launch, there were no mainstream media reports mentioning that Apple`s Steve Jobs threw a fit when the same thing happened to a couple of his products; or, that he`s currently trying to trample the concept of freedom of the press while he tries to wreak vengeance.
Unofficial stories about Microsoft’s new Xbox, then code-named Xenon, were rife and, Many of the leaks in the two weeks leading up to the Xbox 360’s launch were right on the money, in part because some of them came from the taping of the MTV launch special a week before it aired, says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer`s Microsoft Blogs.
PowerPage, AppleInsider and Think Secrets wrote about Apple products before Steven P. Jobs wanted it. So he`s suing them for revealing what he calls `trade secrets`.
Stories based on ‘insider information’ appear all the time in on- and offline reporting, and they always will. Writers ferret out `secret` information and publish it. It`s part of what they do.
The three webpubs all supported Jobs and his products and the pre-publicity certainly didn`t do any harm. In fact, some reports wondered if Jobs (who`s famous for his marketing skills) hadn`t leaked the news deliberately to get exposure in the media without paying for it.
Back to Xbox 360, But what about those earlier rumors, the ones that came several months in advance?” – asks the Post-Intelligencer. “One that seemed especially far-fetched at the time was the report more than a year ago from a purported encounter with Xbox executive J Allard at a bar in Whistler, B.C.
This is in reference to an item in Engadget just over a year ago, which reads:
… we were talking about the Xbox 2 and he said their current plan was not to include a hard drive in the Xbox 2 itself, but to offer a portable hard drive as an accessory you could buy separately. Here`s the kicker: He said what they were trying to do was to incorporate MP3 (and WMA, obviously) functionality into the portable hard drive and turn the thing into an iPod killer.”
Suddenly that’s not far-fetched at all, says the Post-Intelligencer’s Todd Bishop, who also points out that in March, joystiq carried an image of Allard making a presentation with a silver box, that looked like it could be some sort of prototype.
/ joystiq
He says it was dismissed as a decoy but, “one of the most interesting parts of last week’s MTV special was a segment that included a quick series of images showing the evolution of the Xbox 360 design. I slowed it down on playback, just to see the designs more closely. This one, below, was particularly interesting. Look familiar?”
/ Todd Bishop – Seattle Post-Intelligencer
[Note: joystiq was offline at 6:00 am PST, and the Post-Intelligencer`s link wasn`t working either. This pic is from the PI report.]
And yet, with all of the above notwithstanding, there`s nary a word from Microsoft about suing Engadget, joystiq, MTV or the Post-Intelligencer for revealing trade secrets or, for that matter, Allard (for shooting his mouth off in as Canadian bar).
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See:-
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – Revisiting the Xbox leaks, May 16, 2005
Engadget – Microsoft`s Xbox 2 iPod killer?, April 8, 2004
May 16th, 2005 at 4:53 pm
The usual p2pnet.net garbage.
May 16th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Google “Osborne Effect” and you may discern why a company like Apple, with shareholders to answer to, would not want to jeopardize any quarter’s sales results with leaked information about pending releases. Steven P. Jobs is just as responsible and justified in defending his Apple’s trade secrets as any CEO who tries to avoid the Osborne Effect (like automobile manufacturers, for example). Projections about Steven P. Jobs’ personal motives strike me as puerile reporting and clown logic.
Would the same Osborne effect not apply to Xbox? It very well might, but purchasing a $200 game console is a lot different than purchasing a computer system at five times (and more) the investment. I suppose monitoring Microsoft’s stock might illustrate whether pre-announcing the Xbox 360 is regarded as a wise business move or not.