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The Apple community is a group of people interested in
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
and its products, who report information in various media. Generally this has evolved into a proliferation of websites, but latterly has also expanded into podcasts (both audio and video), either speculating on rumors about future product releases, simply report Apple-related news stories, or have discussions about Apple's products and how to use them. Such stories and discussions may include topics related to physical products like the
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
and
iOS devices Comparison of models Legend Supported Unsupported (64-bit CPU) Unsupported (32-bit CPU) iPhone systems-on-chips Timeline Geekbench benchmark scores Note: Hardware reviewers have commented that these benc ...
(e.g., the iPhone,
iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes wa ...
, and
iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, ...
); software and operating systems, like
Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Mac computers powered by macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 or later. The ...
, Logic Pro X,
iWork iWork is an office suite of applications created by Apple Inc. for its macOS and iOS operating systems, and also available cross-platform through the iCloud website. It includes the presentation application Keynote, the word processing and d ...
,
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
, and
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...
; or even services Apple offers like
iCloud iCloud is a Personal cloud, cloud service from Apple Inc. launched on October 12, 2011 as a successor to MobileMe. , the service had an estimated 850 million users, up from 782 million users in 2016. iCloud enables users to sync their data to t ...
,
iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 ...
, or
Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple Mu ...
. Apple enjoys a
cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. Thi ...
-like following for its platforms, especially following the massive increase in popularity for the brand brought about by the huge increase in sales for all its products that started around the time the company introduced the original iPod in late 2001. The mass usage of computing devices in everyday life, mixed with Apple's
vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...
of its products and services, has helped to bring about this increase in popularity, and combined with a tight-lipped corporate policy about future products, helped foster an interest in the company's activities.


Sites and publishers

The Apple community is made up of several
website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wikipe ...
s which exclusively, or almost exclusively, specialize in Apple products. Some have ceased operation, but a great many continue to run successfully. In addition to these purely Apple info sites, most other mainstream technology journalism sites, including Ars Technica,
CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and telev ...
,
Engadget ''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editor ...
,
Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
, iFixIt,
Slashdot ''Slashdot'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''/.'') is a social news website that originally advertised itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories concerning science, technology, and politics that are submitted and evalu ...
, and
GigaOM Gigaom is a technology focused analyst firm and media company. The company evolved from a blog which offered news, analysis, and opinions on startup companies, emerging technologies, and other technology related topics. It was started by Om Malik ...
include Apple sections, and many prominent bloggers also talk extensively about Apple products, including
John Gruber John Gruber (born 1973) is a technology blogger, UI designer, and one of the inventors of the Markdown markup language. History Gruber is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor of Science in computer science from Drexel Unive ...
's DaringFireball.


9to5Mac

9to5Mac was founded in 2007 by Seth Weintraub as an Apple news website originally focused on Macs in the enterprise. Since then, the website has expanded to covering all things Apple. 9to5Mac is known as the leading website within the Apple News Community in terms of breaking impactful news. The site gained fame in its earlier years for publishing the first photos of the third-generation iPod nano, the original iPod touch, early photos of the first iPhone, and details about Apple's still-in-use aluminum manufacturing process for laptops. In recent years, 9to5Mac published the first accurate details about the iPhone 4S, Siri, Apple's move from Google Maps to Apple Maps, new health and fitness applications, OS X/macOS updates, and the Apple Watch. The site also published the first photos of the white iPad 2, iPhone 5, and the iPad Air.


iMore

iMore is a Canadian website founded in 2008, previously as ''Phonedifferent'', with its main focus on all aspects of Apple devices (also featuring sections on several other platforms). It was run by editor-in-chief Rene Ritchie with a small editing staff until 2020. As of January 1, 2021, it is edited by Joseph Keller. Along with the usual news and rumors, iMore often features in-depth technical details of Apple software and operating systems, aimed at explaining to readers how and why certain things have been done by Apple, in their wider context of achieving better usability and design goals.


Low End Mac

Low End Mac is an Apple-centric website founded in 1997 to support Mac users with early Mac hardware and growing over time to cover the entire range of Macs, as each line eventually had model years falling into the “vintage and obsolete” category. Low End Mac's primary focus is on ''aging'' Apple gear, primarily Macs, but touching on iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV, and other devices as well. It is published by its founder Daniel Knight with a small volunteer writing staff.


MacDailyNews

MacDailyNews has been published since September 2002, years ago. MacDailyNews was cited by CNet as its source for the launch of the first Verizon (CDMA-capable) iPhone after Christmas, 2010; the phone was announced by Verizon in early 2011. The site was also cited by DaringFireball as the source for AT&T's best yet iPhone launch in 2009. It was also cited by
MacRumors MacRumors.com is a website that aggregates Mac and Apple-related news and rumors. The site launched on February 24, 2000, in Richmond, Virginia, and is owned by Arnold Kim. By consolidating reports and cross-referencing claims, MacRumors aims to ...
with a forecast for the second generation Mac Pro in April 2013; Apple announced it in June.


MacDevelopers

MacDevelopers is a site hosted for Apple Developers who code in
Objective-C Objective-C is a general-purpose, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language. Originally developed by Brad Cox and Tom Love in the early 1980s, it was selected by NeXT for its NeXTS ...
and
Swift (programming language) Swift is a general-purpose, multi-paradigm, compiled programming language developed by Apple Inc. and the open-source community. First released in 2014, Swift was developed as a replacement for Apple's earlier programming language Objecti ...
. The website also publishes articles regarding Apple's latest products and rumors. Usually the site gets its traffic from Apple developers. There is a slight increase in the traffic during the
Worldwide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in t ...
event or when there is a major
iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
or
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...
update.


MacIssues

MacIssues is the renewal of what began in March 1996 as "MacFixIt," an update site for Ted Landau's Mac troubleshooting book "Sad Macs, Bombs and Other Disasters". The site was originally called "The Sad Macs Update Site" but was renamed to MacFixIt after hosting problems. The site has changed hands, being sold to TechTracker in July 2000, which was purchased by
CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and telev ...
in 2007. With CBS Interactive's acquisition of CNET in 2008, MacFixIt was integrated into the main CNET blog structure. MacFixIt was discontinued by CNET, but the site has spawned MacIssues.com, which continues to offer daily Mac-related troubleshooting, how-to, and review articles, and is written primarily by Christopher (Topher) Kessler.


MacOS Rumors

MacOS Rumors was founded by Ethan C. Allen in 1995 as the first known "Apple rumors" website on the early web. His early work was noticed and referenced by other print media including
CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and telev ...
,
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also rep ...
, and Mac the Knife in
MacWEEK ''MacWEEK'' was a controlled-circulation weekly Apple Macintosh trade journal based in San Francisco founded by Michael Tchong, John Anderson, Glenn Patch, Dick Govatski, and Michael F. Billings. It featured a back-page rumor column penned by the ...
. Allen was only 16 at the time but had developed extensive source contacts. Apple, at the time, was unhappy with some of the releases on the site which proved to be early and accurate. Apple contacted Allen a number of times requesting he stop releasing data from his sources. After a brief shutdown of the site at the request of Apple, the MacOS Rumors site was obtained by Ryan Meader after a domain expiration within two years of its creation. Originally with Ethan, the site posted most of its rumors based on screenshots and info sent via email from followers. With Ryan at the helm, MacOS Rumors collected content from message boards and
usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis (computing), Jim Ellis conceived th ...
posts but later claimed (unsubstantiated) to have developed contacts inside Apple. After a number of successful years, MacOS Rumors gained a reputation for being inaccurate. Meader had allowed the MacOS Rumors domain name to expire around July 16, 2007, but then renewed the domain for another nine years. In the past half-decade, the site hasn't been updated at all and has no current staff. After the MacOS Rumors site was obtained by Ryan in 1997, Ethan tried to briefly return to Apple rumors with his sources by creating a new website titled Mac Rumor Mill. Apple quickly caught onto the new site and was able to shut it down with threatened legal action.


MacRumors

MacRumors was launched in February 2000 by Arnold Kim, as an aggregator of Mac-related rumors and reports around the web. MacRumors attempts to keep track of the rumor community by consolidating reports and cross-referencing claims.


Macworld

Macworld is one of the oldest magazine publications focused on Apple products and software, starting in 1984. It received competition with the launch of ''MacUser'' the following year. The two magazines merged under the "Macworld" name in 1997. In September 2014 it discontinued its print edition, instead focusing on its website and YouTube coverage only.


SecureMac

SecureMac was founded in 1999 as a Mac-oriented security news portal. The site has expanded to cover a wide range of digital security and privacy topics, but has retained its focus on Apple products and software. In 2016, SecureMac launched ''The Checklist'', a weekly security-themed podcast aimed at iOS and macOS users. SecureMac has been credited with discovering several significant macOS threats, including the Boonana Trojan, a new variant of the rogue security program Mac Defender.


Think Secret

Think Secret Think Secret, founded in 1998, was a web site which specialized in publishing reports and rumors about Apple Inc. The name of the site was a play on Apple's one-time advertising slogan, "Think Different". Think Secret's archives reached as far back ...
appeared in 1999. Apple filed a lawsuit against the company alleging it printed stories containing Apple trade secrets. In December 2007 the lawsuit was settled with no sources being disclosed; however, the site was shut down, finally closing on February 14, 2008. In the year leading up to the closing of the site, Think Secret correctly predicted an aluminum shell
iMac iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms. In its o ...
, development of a touchscreen based iPod starting in 2006, and the relative
BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...
-esque form factor of the new
iPod Nano The iPod Nano (stylised and marketed as iPod nano) is a discontinued portable media player designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, usin ...
. However, there were still some reports that turned out to be false, such as its prediction of the demise of the
Mac Mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. , it is positioned between the consumer all-in-one iMac and the professional Mac Studio and Mac Pro as one of four current Mac deskt ...
, when it received an upgrade in mid-2007, albeit with no fanfare.


TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog)

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) was founded in 2004, and claimed to be "a resource for all things Apple and beyond". TUAW published news stories, credible rumors, and how-tos covering a variety of topics daily. TUAW was known for its rumor roundups, seeking to dispel false Apple rumors from around the web. On February 3, 2015, TUAW was shut down by its owners,
Weblogs, Inc. Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...


Macintosh User Groups

Macintosh User Groups (MUGs) are a group of people who use
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
computers made by
Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
or other manufacturers and who use the
Apple Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
operating system (OS). These groups are primarily locally situated and meet regularly to discuss
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
computers, the
macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...
,
software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists o ...
and
peripherals A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by th ...
that work with these computers. Some groups focus on the older versions of macOS, up to macOS 9, but the majority now focus on the current version of macOS, macOS Big Sur. These user groups began with the formation of the Apple User Group Connection.


The Mac Observer

The Mac Observer
is a website that publishes Mac, iPhone, and Apple related news, reviews, tips, and podcasts. The site was launched on December 29, 1998 by Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin. The site has evolved from just providing news and reviews to now hosting popular podcasts, columns, and more.


History

The macobserver.com domain was registered on December 17, 1998  and the site launched on December 29 of that same year. The Mac Observer came into existence when Dave Hamilton and Bryan Chaffin acquired Webintosh from Dan Hughes, an Apple-focused site which ran for three years prior.


Podcasts

Starting in 2005, The Mac Observer has been developing its own podcasts and continues producing them to this day. Current podcasts include Mac Geek Gab (hosted by Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun), Media+(hosted by Charlotte Henry), The Apple Context Machine (hosted by Bryan Chaffin), and The Mac Observer's Daily Observations (hosted by Kelly Guimont).


Apple evangelist

An Apple evangelist, also known as Mac(intosh) evangelist or Mac advocate, is a technology evangelist for Apple products. The term " software evangelist" was coined by Mike Murray of the
Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
division. Apple's first evangelist was Mike Boich, a member of the original Macintosh development team. Alain Rossmann succeeded him. Their job was to promote Apple products, primarily by working with
third-party developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
s. Boich and Rossmann later took part in the founding of
Radius In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...
together. One prominent Apple evangelist is Apple Fellow
Guy Kawasaki Guy Kawasaki (born August 30, 1954) is an American marketing specialist, author, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist. He was one of the Apple employees originally responsible for marketing their Macintosh computer line in 1984. He popularized ...
. Kawasaki is credited as being one of the first to use
evangelistic In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are in ...
methods to promote a computer
platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...
through a blog. Apple formerly had a " Why Mac?" evangelist site. The page no longer exists, but the company subsequently ran
Get a Mac The "Get a Mac" campaign is a television advertising campaign created for Apple Inc. (Apple Computer, Inc. at the start of the campaign) by TBWA\Media Arts Lab, the company's advertising agency, that ran from 2006 to 2009. The advertising camp ...
, which gave numerous reasons why "PC users" should switch to Macs. Several third-parties still host and maintain Apple evangelism websites, many of which are listed above. The AppleMasters program was a similar endeavor in the late nineties.Celebs Flock to Apple Hype Fest
Janelle Brown. February 12, 1999.
In the early days of the Macintosh computer, the primary function of an evangelist was to convince
software developer Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invo ...
s to write software products for the Macintosh. When software developers need help from within Apple, evangelists will often act as go-betweens, helping the developers to find the right people at Apple to talk to. This role is now filled by the
Apple Developer Apple Developer (formerly Apple Developer Connection) is Apple Inc.'s website for software development tools, application programming interfaces (APIs), and technical resources. It contains resources to help software developers write software for ...
program, led by
Phil Schiller Philip W. Schiller (born June 8, 1960) is an Apple Fellow at Apple Inc. He is a prominent figure in Apple's keynotes and has been a member of the company's executive team since Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997. In 2020 he became the first p ...
.


Apple's response

Apple's official stance on speculation around any future product releases, is that they do not directly comment on such speculation nor discuss any products, until they are finally released. Historically, Apple has often used legal means, such as
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not disc ...
orders, in order to retain
trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily asc ...
s,
intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, c ...
, or confidential corporate information, when needed. Typically, Apple has primarily pursued the leakers of information themselves, rather than any sites containing rumors on their products. However, Apple's suit against Think Secret in 2005 targeted whether these sites have the right to knowingly publish this protected information.''Apple Computer, Inc., v. Nick Deplume, The Deplume Organization LLC, and Does 1-20'', case 1-05-CV-033341, Cal. Superior Ct, (Santa Clara), 2005. Staff are also required to sign non-disclosure clauses within the company. During his January 10, 2006 keynote address to the
Macworld Conference & Expo Macworld/iWorld was an information technology trade show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It was held annually in the United States during January. Originally ''Macworld Expo'' and then ''Macworld Conference & Expo ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, Apple's then CEO
Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a m ...
poked fun at the rumors community by pretending to create a "Super Secret Apple Rumors"
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...
during his demonstration of new features in
GarageBand GarageBand is a line of digital audio workstations developed by Apple Inc. for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or podcasts. GarageBand is developed by Apple for macOS, and was once part of the iLife software s ...
. On October 16, 2014 at an Apple Special Event keynote,
Craig Federighi Craig Federighi (born May 27, 1969) is an American engineer and business executive who is the senior vice president (SVP) of software engineering at Apple Inc. He oversees the development of iOS, iPadOS, macOS and Apple's common operating system ...
pretended to "triple down on secrecy" by hiring
Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
as "Supreme Commander of Secrecy." He poked fun at the "spaceship" rumors.


See also

*
Rumor A rumor (American English), or rumour (British English; see spelling differences; derived from Latin:rumorem - noise), is "a tall tale of explanations of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in p ...


References

{{Apple, state=expanded Community Macintosh websites Apple Inc. user groups Fandom