Rumored October 14 Apple MacBook event might end up being just a rumor

“With less than six days to go before Tuesday, October 14th and not a peep from Apple, chances of a much-rumored media event on that day to introduce new Mac notebook offerings is growing slim,” AppleInsider reports.

“A lot of emphasis has been placed on next Tuesday as the day Apple might summon the media to another special event ever since Daring Fireball author John Gruber predicted in passing that October 14th would serve as a launch pad for the company’s next-generation notebook offerings,” AppleInsider reports.

“While introductions on that date remain possible, history would suggest that the window of opportunity for Apple to do so in a media-filled forum is rapidly closing,” AppleInsider reports. “Taking a historical look back at Apple’s surprise media events (below) reveals that only once in the last four years has the company issued invites to the media less than a week before the event was scheduled to take place.”

More in the full article, including a list of past Apple events and invitation lead times, here.

29 Comments

  1. The ongoing feud between John Gruber of Daring Fireball, and Daniel Erin Dilger of RoughlyDrafted, continues.

    Dilger writes for AppleInsider under various pseudonyms (Prince McLean, perhaps others?).

    This carefully avoids coming straight out and saying that the Oct 14 event will not happen. That way, if it’s off, they get to embarrass Gruber. If it’s on, this gets lost in the hype. Try again later.

    These guys should write press releases for political candidates.

  2. I’ve never understood why Apple waits until September to update their iPods and leven ater than that to update their Macs. Wouldn’t it make more sense to release new things in late July/early August when parents and students are starting their back-to-school shopping? Nearly every high school and college is back in session by the week after Labor Day.

  3. I’m not in the market for a new notebook right now, but I’ve got a couple of people who are probably going to be pissed at me because they were going to buy their first Macs in September and I told them to be patient if they could and wait for the new lineup in October.

    Every time I see them there like, “Now can I buy?”
    I hate to tell them to go ahead now because you just know the new one will come out two weeks later.

    Happened to me once when I bought an eMac many years ago. Two weeks later, the new model had a much faster processor, more RAM and USB 2.0. I vowed then to only buy at the start of a cycle. At least then I know I’m going to get a few extra months of feeling like it’s the latest thing.

  4. With the economy, my money is on a low-key upgrade on laptops for the holiday season. Maybe more processing power, memory, or larger hard drives – or some other minor technical upgrade.

    If Apple is holding some new technology – I hope they wait until January

  5. The thing that started the rumors in the first place was Peter Oppenheimer’s remark during an analyst’s conference call on July 21st, where he mentioned a “future product transition”.

    Maybe he was referring to the new iPods?

    Someone should call Apple investor relations and as if the transition took place already, and we just didn’t realize it.

  6. Meanwhile, every year for the last six years Apple has updated the iMac line somewhere between the end of August and the middle of October, yet there has been hardly a word about the iMac either from Apple or the rumor mill. It is certainly possible that Apple is adjusting its normal roll-out schedule to account for the general discombobulation that is currently affecting all sectors of the economy. My guess is that even Steve’s crystal ball is looking a little bit cloudy at the moment.

  7. Maybe they’re taking a new turn toward leaks, and controling them themselves. It’ll happen people just be patient. I’ll be happy if it happens before November, happpy birthday me.

  8. “The thing that started the rumors in the first place was Peter Oppenheimer’s remark during an analyst’s conference call on July 21st, where he mentioned a “future product transition”.

    Maybe he was referring to the new iPods?”

    what about the new iPods means lower margins?

  9. the “new” macbooks with substantially different case designs with regard to their predecessors were also released without any kind of stevenote in may 2006. and, even more importantly, they also happened to be the first Intel-Consumer-Notebooks from Apple. Still, no keynote. one’s got the right to hope, or not??

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