Two and Two Together

MG Siegler:

When the rumors today started to spread and the stock started to tank, word started coming out that these rumors were simply not true. Shortly thereafter, we got the news that in fact, Apple would be holding an event to unveil the iPad 2 next week. I’ll let you put two and two together about where that very timely and very accurate information came from.

“Two and two together” is Siegler alleging that Jim Dalrymple and Kara Swisher were fed “corrections” to false rumors by Apple PR.

Kara Swisher, in a series of tweets:

How is it that MG Siegler can just MAKE UP stories about how others — who do actual reporting — get scoops and manage to get it wrong?

He’s like a metronome of misinformation and fictional speculation, writing the same story every time someone has a legit apple scooplet.

I never do this, but for the record, Apple PR never leaked anything to me on 3/2 iPad date and it was not planted in some grassy-knoll plot.

Siegler’s usually pretty smart, but I have no idea why he’d think Apple PR would see the need to quickly respond to two false rumors based on clearly dubious analyst reports. If Apple PR responded to every or even most false reports — even through private back channels to “trusted” reporters — it’d be a dead-giveaway that a rumor was true when they didn’t respond. Update: Via Twitter DM, Siegler told me (on the record): “I never said anything about Apple PR.”

Siegler also wrote:

Let’s say the top tier Apple bloggers bat around .500 with regard to Apple rumors — Apple analysts are probably batting .050.

Half wrong is the “top tier”?

★ Tuesday, 22 February 2011