"They're Everywhere!" (9/29/99)
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Oh, man... you just know somebody at Apple is screaming his lungs out right about now, and that somebody is most likely Captain Steve. The release of several alleged Apple marketing photographs of the as-yet-unannounced "Kihei" sequel to the iMac qualifies as probably the biggest hole in the Silicon Curtain since Mr. Jobs returned to Apple and started plugging leaks. First we saw a photo of the Graphite iMac posted over at Apple Insider, along with several line-drawing diagrams detailing the new enclosure. Those soon vaporized, and were replaced with stark and ominous images that stated "This image has been removed at Apple's legal demand." But the German site MacNews had also posted that photo, along with lots of shots of fruit-flavored Kiheis as well, and Mac OS Rumors then posted an English translation. Those soon vaporized, too, presumably after Apple's lawyers fired the Threat-of-Litigation Ray.
But it's like Whack-a-Mole; every time Apple smacks down a Kihei image site, another one seems to pop right up. "Kihei Guy"'s page arose from MacNews's ashes, only to vanish soon after. Then a Dutch site, AppleBits, posted the images; when last we checked, they, too, had been blasted by the lawyers. So right now the only public site we know of with the goods is, interestingly enough, MacWEEK-- whose article on the whole controversy includes a screenshot of the MacNews site, complete with Graphite iMac clearly displayed right in the center. Strange that Apple hasn't put the hurt on MacWEEK yet, but we imagine they're probably pretty busy right now.
Given all the legal activity, we're not doubting that the photos are the real thing, despite some theories that Apple cooked them up solely to try to trace the leaks. At this point, it's likely that Apple is losing a few iMac sales here and there to people who now have decided to wait for the Kihei to be released, but that's all speculation. In any case, about all Apple can do to contain the damage is announce and ship the Kihei as soon as possible. Here's hoping they don't take too much of a bath on the suddenly far-less-attractive iMac/333s in the channel...
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| | The above scene was taken from the 9/29/99 episode: September 29, 1999: Dell's not the only PC maker poised to ride the iBook's coattails to consumer portable success. Meanwhile, Western Digital reveals that up to five thousand Power Mac G4s may have hard drives that could blow at any minute, and Apple's lawyers are having a tough time stomping out Kihei image sites, as the photos spread virally across the Mac webscape...
Other scenes from that episode: 1812: Copycats Come Quickly (9/29/99) You have to have one thing to the Wintel manufacturers; it takes a while, but they learn. Well, they learn some things, at least... For instance, you may recall that the recipe for the collective Wintel response to the iMac's original unveiling way back in May of last year was two parts snicker, two parts guffaw, a jigger of ridicule, and just the barest hint of dread... 1813: Eewww-- Bad Caviar. :-P (9/29/99) Western Digital, makers of hard disks galore, have posted an announcement that several of their "Caviar" model drives are being recalled. Apparently they've discovered a quality control "issue" that can make these specific drives "fail to power-up after six to 12 months of full-time use."...
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