We are all suckers for rumors and tsismis. Companies sometimes leak confidential information to news/rumor sites as a marketing tool.
John Martellaro provides a good first hand account on how a controlled leak is done. (http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_apple_does_controlled_leaks/)
He used to work as a senior marketing manager at Apple, one of the best marketed tech companies in the world. According to him, controlled leaks are done to address a problem. The specific example he cites is a news article appearing in the Wall Street Journal involving the Apple Tablet or iSlate or whatever its gonna be called. He speculates that the release was done in order to deal with a difficult partner, to test if people are willing to pay $1,000, to confuse competitors, and to hype up the upcoming January 27 Apple event.
But how does Apple do it? An Apple employee would contact a trusted friend in the press and casually mention the information. The communication is strictly done orally in order to avoid a paper trail. The info is usually printed after the stock market closes to avoid any allegations of insider trading. The exchange is also done at the junior level of both companies to provide a layer of deniability for both parties.
It would be interesting to find out if any local company uses the same tactic.
(Photo taken from http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/23520/)
8th Entry Mark Johan Lim
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