Incessant leaks about new products in the tech world -- for or against?

One word answer about tech leaks and the folly thereof: Segway.

I don’t really like it. For the same reasons you stated.. it starts rumors and junk and eventually people are hating (or loving, for that matter, but mostly hating) something that isn’t even near ready to have official data released about it. IF it’s even being released at all.

Information is free. Every leak is a piece of hope that freedom has not yet died.
I support it.
And screw Apple for sending a SWAT team to raid a journalist’s home!

I’m not in favor of it and I blame the lack of patience; patience the Internet has stolen from us.

I think a lot of “leaks” haven’t been, at all. Companies trying to drum up interest in a product that isn’t ready for release yet. I think some leaks have been people just plain lying to drum up hits for their sites.

If there is a non-zero probability that a new gadget is in the works, then I want it, and I want it now.

Sounds rather human to me.

We love a good conspiracy.

@ChazMaz, wonder how I knew you’d say something like that. ;-)

What did you hear??? What is Apple doing next? When will it be out???

I WANT ONE!!!

Since I could easily argue both sides of this argument – I’ll take the ‘for’ side, since most of you are taking the other. :) I like the occasional product leak (confirmed products, not speculation based on Apple patent filing), but only when I am in the market for new products. I just bought the new iMac, but I waited because I knew (from product leak info.) that the line would be updated in a couple months. I know, trying to stay up to date in the world of technology is a fools game, but to buy a computer & after 50 days it is already dubbed a ‘last generation’ model – just irks me a little. Unless I am looking to replace a product, I try to ignore any product leak gossip. I am glad to have snooped around before buying my iMac, for I spent the same amount of money & got triple the tech. specs. I just consider myself a savvy shopper is all.

A lot of the time the company could be doing controlled leaks. I know apple does this all the time to the Wall Street Journal. Also, a lot of tech bloggers don’t realize that it’s a controlled leak and spread it. The company gets free marketing. I have a hunch that John Gruber of Daring Fireball falls for this all the time.

You always have to look at the context of the rumour. It also helps if you read tech blogs for a very long time. You get to understand trends and also you realize that a rumour might be related to something 4 months ago.

Also, commentors on techcrunch, engadget, gigaom, etc… could give you different perspectives in certain rumours and can raise interesting points.

It is interesting though, that tech industries have become very secretive. Apple was always thia way, and they do this to build their image. There are so many blogs that speculate on apple and nothing else. Just apple. This is fantastic marketing. For a while other companies could not get a hang of this, but now they are beginning to successfully imitate this behaviour.

Leaks have become something of a marketing tool. The desired outcome is for the info to go viral and save everyone a lot of grief, but last I heard nobody really knew how to reliably use the memetic phenomenon. They’ve tried – oh, they’ve tried – but it’s awfully slippery. Sometimes it works, but it fizzles just as often.