"Leaking" information on purpose!

It seems so simple that a company could easily let info leak, especially product prototypes/mock-ups, specifically to improve their position.
They would
1. Add hype to the product - free publicity!
2. Help feed the nosy people - once we get a little bit of info, we have to stand back and dissect it for at least a couple weeks.

For instance:
Let's say that photo of the PS4 controller that surfaced shortly before the Feb 20th announcement was actually an inside job. Sony would frame this picture specifically for us to digest: the controller, it has a cord... we see the front but not the back... there's a machine in the background... is that a dev kit? What's that extra button for? What's the shiny thing?
Basically EVERYONE talked about it. For like a week straight. If you hadn't seen that picture, you were a goon.

Another moment I often think of is when the iPhone 4 was "lost" in a bar (or wherever it was) and recovered and someone found it and posted this and that... someone was probably fired and blah blah blah... We all heard it.
It seems like such a simple thing to fabricate such an event/story like that, and really there's not much for a company to lose... or am I overlooking some large aspect?

I'm not sure where I'm taking this thread... but it seems like an interesting idea.

Or maybe I'm just feeding the natural modern human's tendency to conspire.

Eh?

 

Sounds possible. Not sure if some of the companies are smart enough or dumb enough to do something like that...

 

I believe Apple do this all the time.

The hype generated on rumour sites whenever a blurry picture of a random piece of logic board appears is insane.

It wouldn't surprise me to see other companies taking this approach albeit with console parts you have to be a little more obvious.

 

Even fake leaks go crazy.

When the iPhone 4 was found, it's a little ironic Gizmodo found it... When you'd think some random would either take it, or hand it in. :/

 

iirc the person who found it sold it to Gizmodo.

However, I think it was weird that it was lost in the first place.

I don't care who you are, you don't just leave one of the most anticipated pieces of hardware in history in a bar. You just wouldn't forget something like that.

 

Didn't that guy from Gizmodo buy it from him that night? They were in the same place at the same time if I'm not mistaken.

 

x

 

Regardless of what your opinion of a company's products may be, they all spend millions of dollars to market their wares.

Fabricating and executing a fake "leak" wouldn't take much more effort than putting together a polished "teaser" trailer, but generates much more buzz, especially in the arena of consumer gadgetry. Covering their tracks and making it plausible is what companies get for their millions spent on marketing.

 

I wouldn't even leave my old, hand-me-down iPhone at a bar. When it's not in my pocket my eyes are on it.

 

From what I read the guy from Gizmodo was just contacted by the person who found it, there was no relation between the two of them at all.

The person who was pressured to suicide was the chinese factory manager who was blamed for taking pics in the Foxconn plant.

 

Many Foxconn workers kill themself due to stress load too. It was probably a mixture of both.

 

You say that, but ignore the stats.

Foxconn employ more people than some citys have living in them. Their suicide rate is less than those citys. Therefore, not many people commit suicide at foxconn statistically.

 

Your idea and working class and the chinese foxconn workers are very different. They live in site for starters. But that isnt the point at all.

But the odd foxconn worker committing suicide is a ridicously small percent of their work force. When someone commits suicide anywhere else, the company they work for doesnt get named. The only reason foxconn comes up more often than others is because they employ silly numbers of people - so there is of course going to be more suicides in NUMBER, not in percentage though.

 

I was just putting it out there. Stats or not, you hear many stories about it. Which is what I was going by.

 

"Leaking" information on purpose = Team Xecuter

Develops a product to a point where they cant get it to function any better (it has inherit problems) Leaks it, then pretend that the leak forced them to release a "beta" product while having the community do all the work in fixing there "beta" product that they themselves couldn't have...

 

Foxconn blew up because of the segment aired on This American Life (hosted by Ira Glass). It was later revised to find that the guy telling his story had fabricated very specific shitty details... which was basically the entire segment.

I was also under the impression that Foxconn suicide rates are only talked about because Foxconn is in the media spotlight already.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides

basically, 17 suicides in 5 years with a work force of nearly a million.

In comparison, national average is like 7-14%

So working at foxconn makes you less likely to commit suicide if you go by the numbers. Also, one left a note saying he did it because his family would get the insurance payout - which they cancelled the program afterwards and suicides dropped back to normal low levels.

So yeah, dont believe the media hype.

 

This isn't to say that labor standards and quality of life over there are acceptable, IMO.

 

Never said that. Just that if you have nearly a million people in your work force - some of them are going to commit suicide and its going to be more (in numbers, not percentage) as you have a larger work force.

Simple maths, which is my (only) point.