If Apple could kick out a product in a couple months, I'd believe it.
Subscribing to Occam's Razor: they hid real products.
They have a year or two pipeline. Google/HTC/Motorola would eat them alive. I have a hard time believing they are manufacturing a coverup to this degree within 22 days. I write software for projects a couple orders of magnitude less than Apple's taking on. There's no way they can fake this.
Huh? To what degree? Hiding empty boxes isn't much of a coverup. It's just a small thing that adds an air of awesome, and at the same time means that if any reporter has the balls to quickly run over and unsheathe the boxes, nothing sensitive will be shown.
Putting real products under there would not be a very smart move. It only takes a minute or two to quickly hide something else instead before the reporters arrive.
Over the last ten years, Apple produced above average products. Their growth reflects it; as does their marketing hubris.
Why lie? Why cover empty boxes? They have enough goodwill and fanboyism without having to manufacture an aura. They curate it, no doubt. Which leads me to the hand-picked reporters. Calculated, definitely.
The reporters a risk? Nah. If Gruber yanked a cloth, he'd gain notoriety, be escorted out and others would glimpse something in a relatively similar form-factor or not at all (say, the iPad a year ago).
It would suck for Apple. But can you imagine the expectation over an iPad being revealed from a PR event went wrong? The expectation would be even higher.
There is little risk. They can manage. It seems like more work for Apple to lie at this juncture.
Putting real products (which I don't doubt are being worked on as I type) there is a very unnecessary risk. You gain nothing and you lose a lot if only one visitor feels brave enough to uncover them. This is especially the case as Apple has had some interesting experiences with the press recently.
Subscribing to Occam's Razor: they hid real products.
They have a year or two pipeline. Google/HTC/Motorola would eat them alive. I have a hard time believing they are manufacturing a coverup to this degree within 22 days. I write software for projects a couple orders of magnitude less than Apple's taking on. There's no way they can fake this.
It's presented well. This is true.