Irish Times swallows rumour site stories...

If there is one thing which really annoys us, its when news sites swallow rumours whole, assuming them to be fact, and reporting them as truth. However, what is suprising is when this comes from sources we generally trust as relaible and well researched.
Today's Business supplement in the Irish Times carried a story about the Apple "iPhone". The Technophile column by Mike Butcher stated that "[Apple] reportedly ordered 12 million Apple-designed mobiles from a Taiwanese manufacturer which also happens to make Mac minis, iPods and Motorola mobiles". Butcher goes on to report that "set to be unleashed next year, the fabled iPhone should have iTunes capability but beyond that, your guess is good as mine."
The problem with Butcher's story is that, well, the story is based on nothing but rumour. There has been no announcement from any manufacturing plant stating that they are producing an Apple phone, and Apple have never stated any intention to jump into the area of mobile phones. In fact, Apple left the PDA business at the end of the 90s with the closure of the Newton division, which produced the eMate portable and Newton MessagePad.
Butcher's begins his story saying that Apple "reportedly" ordered the manufacture of these so called iPhones, but then repeats almost word for word the rumour sites assertions that Apple are about to enter this market. Does no one follow up on these stories or validate the sources? The rumour originated with Digitimes in Taiwan, described by Shawn King, of Your Mac Life, as a publication with about as good a track record as the National Enquirer.
To swallow these stories whole is, at the very least, naive. Even a rumour site, Appleinsider, described Digitimes as "always intriguing but seldom accurate".
We expected better from the Irish Times.
Simon Spence/2006