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February 12, 2008
Rumors speak truths
Rumors speak truths: Last night Twitter was a-buzz, driven by a blogger who said "someone told me a new Apple iPhone will include Adobe Flash Player". Today the rumor jumped over into weblogs, and it's got enough intensity to be taken up by newspapers soon. All based on a single blogger with a weak "sources say". I have no idea what Apple is doing myself -- they're so tight and controlling that someone there will probably complain that an Adobe staffer even acknowledged the rumor. ;-) The continued coyness itself is suggestive. But there's something real here that this rumor does tell us: its rapid uptake shows that people care about whether it might be true. The iPhone is a hot, sexy story, and so is possible enfranchisement within the Flash publishing universe... put them together, and people clearly care. A lot. The rumor may be weak, but the strong reception shows the truth: The Web, without Flash, ain't the Web.
Reminder: Apple's news is Apple's to announce. Anything else is speculation. We, as readers, must critically evaluate the news-programming we receive... an unsourced and unfalsifiable rumor is more titillating than useful.
Posted by JohnDowdell at February 12, 2008 8:33 AM