MacRumors

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

News website focused on Apple, Inc.

title: "MacRumors" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["internet-forums", "internet-properties-established-in-2000", "macintosh-websites"] description: "News website focused on Apple, Inc." topic_path: "general/internet-forums" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacRumors" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary News website focused on Apple, Inc. ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox website"]

FieldValue
nameMacRumors
logoMacRumors.svg
logo_size150px
logo_captionThe logo of MacRumors, a stylized apple featuring a question mark
screenshot[[File:MacRumors screenshot (July 28 2023).png
collapsibleyes
collapsetextScreenshot
typeNews website
languageEnglish
headquartersGlen Allen, Virginia
country_of_originUnited States
ownerMacRumors.com, LLC
founderArnold Kim
editorEric Slivka
key_people{{flatlist
num_employees14
url
commercialYes
registrationOptional, required to post on the forums
num_users1.1 million forum users
launch_date
current_statusActive
footnotesTotal forum members (August 2023).
::

| name = MacRumors | logo = MacRumors.svg | logo_size = 150px | logo_caption = The logo of MacRumors, a stylized apple featuring a question mark | screenshot = [[File:MacRumors screenshot (July 28 2023).png|280px|Screenshot of macrumors.com on July 28, 2023]] | collapsible = yes | collapsetext = Screenshot | type = News website | language = English | headquarters = Glen Allen, Virginia | country_of_origin = United States | owner = MacRumors.com, LLC | founder = Arnold Kim | editor = Eric Slivka | key_people = {{flatlist|

  • Juli Clover
  • Joe Rossignol
  • Tim Hardwick
  • Hartley Charlton
  • Mitchel Broussard
  • Dan Barbera | num_employees = 14 | url = | commercial = Yes | registration = Optional, required to post on the forums | num_users = 1.1 million forum users | launch_date = | current_status = Active | footnotes = Total forum members (August 2023).

MacRumors is an American website that reports and aggregates Apple Inc.- and Mac-related news, rumors, and information.

The website is updated on a daily basis with new articles. It also provides a selection of other content including guides, tutorials, videos, and a podcast. MacRumors is a prominent website within the Apple community, featuring a popular forum with over one million members. It has been credited with helping to build a positive community around Apple.

The site was founded in February 2000 by Arnold Kim and remains a privately owned publication.{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/2008/7/nephrologist-to-mac-blogger-the-unlikely-career-path-of-macrumors-arnold-kim |title=Nephrologist To Mac Blogger: The Unlikely Career Path Of MacRumors' Arnold Kim |language=en |first=Dan |last=Frommer |date=July 13, 2008 |website=Business Insider |access-date= December 25, 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023152715/https://www.businessinsider.com/2008/7/nephrologist-to-mac-blogger-the-unlikely-career-path-of-macrumors-arnold-kim |archive-date=October 23, 2022}} Kim has been profiled in publications including The New York Times and hailed as "Apple Rumor King" owing to his work on MacRumors.

The company's headquarters are located in Glen Allen, Virginia, but the editorial staff work remotely from around the world. Eric Slivka is the site's editor-in-chief. MacRumors has 11 full-time employees.

MacRumors has been credited as a pioneering blog. It is one of the world's most popular technology websites, most valuable blogs, and highest-traffic Apple-centric blogs. MacRumors is said to know "more about Apple than Apple management does".

MacRumors and its editors are frequently ranked among the top technology news publications and authors on technology news aggregator Techmeme, and its work is often cited by mainstream news outlets like CNBC, Bloomberg, and others. The website's editors have distinct styles.

Content

News and rumors

MacRumors publishes news articles about Apple, including, but not limited to, its product development operations, software, services, supply chain, corporate affairs, and retail aspects. During Apple events, where the company unveils new products and services, MacRumors operates a liveblog and publishes articles in real-time.

::quote

::

|quote = The site has grown considerably through the years, but the basic format hasn't changed. The news and rumor focus has remained generally consistent. In fact, I've always prided myself on the selectivity of the news we choose to report on and how seriously we take our reporting. |salign = right |author = Arnold Kim |source = 2011 |width = 50% |align = right In addition to Apple's official developments, MacRumors curates rumors and reports from other sources. Apple has a famously intense culture of corporate secrecy that inspires interest in its upcoming product announcements and speculation. As such, reporting appropriately sourced information about Apple's plans comprises a key element of ''MacRumors''' coverage.

By consolidating reports and cross-referencing claims, MacRumors aims to keep track of Apple news and rumors as they develop. For example, the website attempts to infer the design of next-generation Apple products before the launch.{{cite journal |last1=Wee |first1=Chaimanowong |last2=Ke |first2=T. Tony |date=November 21, 2022 |title=A Simple Micro-Founded Model of Repeat Buying Based on Continuous Information Tracking |url=https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=966127081000028119124091013001029108040064059016095049073100075078119030090093012075023058099106014008005102096113120077006107059000075062031067097105068028006029118025084038104111096009125118112101079075102027001117108117077081031109069127113022126027&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE |page=1 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3954939 |s2cid=243464823 |access-date=August 14, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814113819/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3954939 |archive-date=August 14, 2023|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }} The features and attributes of the iPod, MacBook, iPhone, and Apple Watch were revealed on MacRumors "long before" Apple launched them.{{cite journal |last1=Najafi-Ghobadi |first1=Somayeh |last2=Bagherinejad |first2=Jafar |last3=Taleizadeh |first3=Ata Allah |date=October 2021 |title=Modeling the diffusion of generation products in the presence of heterogeneous strategic customers for determining optimal marketing-mix strategies |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360835221005106 |journal=Computers & Industrial Engineering |volume=160 |article-number=107606 |doi=10.1016/j.cie.2021.107606 |access-date=August 14, 2023 |url-access=subscription }} It scrutinizes the source of information posted on the website and uses an evidence-based approach, assessing track records, corroboration, and plausibility of rumors in relation to Apple's past behavior and overall history – seeking to provide an accurate picture of the company's behind-the-scenes endeavors.

MacRumors primarily functions as an aggregator of rumors from other sources rather than posting exclusive leaks to avoid legal difficulties. Nevertheless, MacRumors occasionally breaks original stories, such as revealing the name of the iPad using trademark filings in prior to its announcement in 2010.

Buyer's Guide

Apple does not provide advance warning of when product updates are imminent. MacRumors hosts a specialized "Buyer's Guide" to help average shoppers avoid buyer's remorse by clarifying when is a good time to buy a particular Apple device based on the timing of its introduction, how long the company usually waits to refresh the product, and rumors about impending hardware updates.

Forum

MacRumors is home to a large, community-oriented Apple- and Mac-focused forum with over 1.1 million forum members and over 31 million forum posts as of August 2023.

Videos and podcast

MacRumors has a corresponding YouTube channel hosted by video producer Dan Barbera that provides content related to the website's coverage, including noteworthy Apple rumors, new product launches, reviews, tutorials, and more. As of August 2023, the MacRumors YouTube channel has over half a million subscribers and 152 million video views.

MacRumors also has a weekly podcast, titled The MacRumors Show, that discusses the latest Apple news. It is hosted by Barbera and senior editor Hartley Charlton, and the podcast is offered in both audio and video formats on various platforms. The podcast often features prominent YouTubers and industry figures as guests, such Rene Ritchie, iJustine, and John Gruber. It is distributed by AudioBoom.

Business

MacRumors is a high-traffic monetized internet business that offers banner ads, conducts affiliate marketing, and sells video, newsletter, and podcast sponsorship. Forum members can purchase a paid membership subscription that allows users to filter front page stories according to their preferences, remove all ads, get access to private forums, and help to support the site.

As of April 30, 2012, according to Quantcast, MacRumors received an average 65,890,912 page views globally per month, and 7,567,679 visitors per month globally. The website continues to have tens of millions of unique visitors every month.

Market Influence

At least two independent studies have directly linked MacRumors coverage of news and rumors to Apple (ticker symbol "AAPL") stock returns. Its impact is lessened during the period following Apple's official announcements because "new information has already been received and absorbed by the market through previous leakages". While comments posted on MacRumors articles have also been correlated with returns, positive comments have a lower impact on Apple's stock returns than negative and neutral comments.

History

2000s

Kim conceived of MacRumors during the dot-com bubble as a hobby. He launched MacRumors as a solo enterprise on February 24, 2000 during his fourth and final year of medical school at the Medical College of Virginia, requiring "little financing". The site was initially designed as an independent blog to dissect the secrets of Apple, his favorite technology company. It was originally based on Slashdot.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Apple_Power_Macintosh_G5_Late_2005_02.jpg" caption="Apple [[Power Mac G5"] ::

In 2002, Kim screenshot and published details about schematic drawings of a new, aluminum case for the Power Mac G5 that were initially posted on ''MacRumors''' forum. Apple sent Kim a takedown request and he complied, but the news had already spread. The following year, Kim received a subpoena to hand over information with regards to the leak. An Apple contract worker was subsequently charged with misappropriation of trade secrets in connection to the case.

In 2002, some forum members complained about political discussion taking over the website, leading to the opening of a specific politics subforum. The subforum was closed in 2003 but reopened as a Politics, Religion, Social Issues subforum with stricter rules shortly thereafter. Around 2003 to 2004, ad revenue from the site started growing significantly. In 2005, MacRumors started "turning a substantial profit".

During his January 10, 2006 keynote address to the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs poked fun at the rumor community by pretending to create a "Super Secret Apple Rumors" podcast during his demonstration of new features in GarageBand.

Apple's introduction of the iPhone in 2007 marked a turning point for MacRumors. While it had grown significantly before 2007, the launch of the iPhone opened up widespread public interest in Apple's products. The site then grew to a volume of traffic that was sustainable in terms of revenue.

Kim worked on MacRumors part-time as a hobby until 2008, when he gave up his job at a private nephrology practice in Richmond to work on the site full-time. While he had some assistance from part-time freelancers, Kim was doing everything for the site—editorially and technologically—himself. MacRumors reached around 40 million pageviews per month later that year. The 2008 financial crisis did not "tangibly" affect MacRumors.

Advertising revenue rose further in 2009 and 2010. Eric Slivka was ''MacRumors''' first full-time member of staff, hired by Kim in early 2009. Later that year, the company hired four full-time employees, increasing the site's capacity to cover Apple news and rumors.

During the Macworld 2009 keynote, the site's live coverage on the separate domain MacRumorsLive.com was hacked to insert inappropriate content into the text and photo live feeds, some of which related to the health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The incident was particularly controversial because it came amid multiple false reports of Jobs' death. MacRumors ended its coverage early and the episode provoked a volatile reaction on Twitter. Kim apologized following the event. It subsequently emerged that the hackers appeared to be associated with imageboard site 4chan.

2010s

In 2010, MacRumors celebrated its 10th anniversary and set out plans for a site redesign that came into effect the following year. In May 2010, the website reached 10 million forum posts and 438,000 forum members, and was ranked among the top 500 U.S. websites. The site also launched its first annual blood drive, seeking to encourage members of the Apple community to donate blood.

Following several scandals, discussion of alleged worker exploitation by Apple suppliers captured the MacRumors forums in 2010. In 2012, a study by the Erasmus School of Economics found that MacRumors articles have an impact on Apple stock returns.

While MacRumors has had a YouTube channel since January 17, 2006, it did not begin regularly posting original video content until September 2014.

On October 16, 2014 at an Apple Special Event keynote, senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi pretended to "triple down on secrecy" by hiring Stephen Colbert as "Supreme Commander of Secrecy." He poked fun at "spaceship" rumors related to the construction of Apple Park, seemingly referring to the rumor community supported by the website.

In 2019, a study by researchers at Columbia University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong linked *MacRumors''' coverage to Apple's stock returns. It concluded that *MacRumors'' "significantly influences Apple's abnormal returns".

2020s

In 2020, MacRumors celebrated its 20th anniversary. By the end of the year, the site had 11 full-time employees.

In July 2021, MacRumors announced that it was immediately closing down its Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum, prohibiting all political and social issue discussions from the site with the exception of News stories that are explicitly categorized under Political News. MacRumors launched its podcast titled The MacRumors Show hosted by Barbera and Charlton in December 2021. The podcast's first guest was renowned Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.

In 2023, Kim was interviewed on an episode of The MacRumors Show podcast recorded in Orlando, Florida to discuss the history of the website. A special episode was recorded at the Apple Podcasts studio in Apple Park, California following the announcement of the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. Barbera was given an early demo of the device.

In popular culture

American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter Jason Segel is a MacRumors reader and often brings up his affection for the website publicly. In the DVD commentary for 2008 comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Segel told Mila Kunis that he enjoyed learning about Apple's upcoming releases and was a fan of MacRumors. "I love macrumors.com," Segel said, "it's tomorrow's Mac news today". The commentary jokingly suggested that he had a deal with MacRumors to promote the site. Kim was fond of the tagline invented by Segel, leading to it becoming officially adopted by the site.

When promoting "Otherworld" in 2017 alongside Kirsten Miller, Segel once again mentioned his fondness for MacRumors, commenting that "Every morning when I wake up I immediately go on to macrumors.com to see what's new".

Sister sites

Mobile video game website TouchArcade is *MacRumors''' sister site since it is owned by Kim. He founded *TouchArcade'' in 2008 with Blake Patterson. It shut down on September 16, 2024.

MacRumors and TouchArcade were also sister sites with App Store discovery and price tracking site AppShopper until June 2021, when Kim took the decision to shut it down. Apple was apparently discontented with services that aggregated and indexed information from the App Store.

References

References

  1. "MacRumors Forums".
  2. "About MacRumors.com".
  3. Kelion, Leo. (September 24, 2014). "Bent iPhone claims put Apple under pressure to respond". [[BBC News]].
  4. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  5. Stelter, Brian. (July 21, 2008). "My Son, the Blogger: An M.D. Trades Medicine for Apple Rumors". [[The New York Times]].
  6. A. McIntyre, Douglas. (March 26, 2008). "The Twenty-Five Most Valuable Blogs".
  7. X. Chen, Brian. (February 23, 2010). "Arnold Kim Celebrates 10 Years as Apple Rumor King".
  8. "Techmeme Leaderboards".
  9. (June 30, 2013). "Digital Libraries: Social Media and Community Networks".
  10. Kim, Arnold. (January 19, 2010). "Will Apple's Tablet Actually Be Called the iPad? New Trademarks Filed This Week".
  11. "MacRumors Buyer's Guide".
  12. Lewis, David. (November 9, 2022). "The one with Dan Barbera from MacRumors".
  13. "Social Blade YouTube Statistics".
  14. Charlton, Hartley. (March 25, 2022). "The MacRumors Show: Rene Ritchie Talks Mac Studio Performance and Studio Display Controversy".
  15. Ritchie, Rene. (25 March 2022). "Apple's Mac Studio & Studio Display ft. Rene Ritchie". [[AudioBoom]].
  16. Charlton, Hartley. (July 15, 2022). "The MacRumors Show: M2 MacBook Air First Impressions ft. iJustine".
  17. Ezarik, Justine. (21 October 2022). "M2 MacBook Air First Impressions ft. iJustine". [[AudioBoom]].
  18. Charlton, Hartley. (November 9, 2022). "The MacRumors Show: John Gruber Talks macOS Ventura and Upcoming Macs".
  19. Gruber, John. (9 November 2022). "macOS Ventura & Upcoming New Macs ft. John Gruber". [[AudioBoom]].
  20. "Advertise on MacRumors".
  21. "Macrumors.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast".
  22. (January 25, 2019). "Market Reaction to iPhone Rumors". Munich Personal RePEc Archive.
  23. Malkomes, Marie A.. (November 28, 2012). "The Impact of UGC on Firm's Performance for Personal Computer Products". Business Economics.
  24. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  25. Butchy, Laura. (May 21, 2011). "Arnold Kim '96 Diagnoses Apple on MacRumors.com".
  26. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  27. Kim, Arnold. (July 21, 2002). "Leaked Pro Mac Photo Summary".
  28. Colker, David. (January 7, 2003). "Rumors Worm Around Apple". [[Los Angeles Times]].
  29. Kim, Arnold. (December 11, 2002). "Apple Takes Legal Action Against Leak".
  30. (July 4, 2021). "Politics, Religion, Social Issues Forum Closed (July 2021)".
  31. Goldstein, Jacob. (July 21, 2008). "Blogging About Apple Pays Better Than Practicing Medicine". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
  32. Graham, Jefferson. (January 10, 2006). "Jobs basks in iPod sales, plugs Macs with Intel chips". [[USA Today]].
  33. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  34. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  35. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  36. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  37. Kim, Arnold. (January 6, 2009). "MacRumorsLive Hacked".
  38. McCarthy, Caroline. (January 6, 2009). "Hackers hit MacRumors keynote coverage".
  39. Sheehan, Michael. (January 6, 2009). "MacRumorsLive Gets HACKED Covering Macworld Expo 2009".
  40. Khan, Urmee. (January 7, 2009). "Macworld 2009: Hackers make spoof announcement of Steve Jobs death". [[The Daily Telegraph.
  41. Thomas, Owen. (January 6, 2009). "Hackers Post Faked Report of Steve Jobs's Death". [[Gawker]].
  42. Deleon, Nicholas. (January 6, 2009). "Today we are all MacRumors".
  43. Sutherland, Ed. (January 7, 2009). "Hackers Attack MacRumors Macworld Keynote Coverage".
  44. (January 9, 2009). "Now, hackers say Steve Jobs dead". [[The Economic Times]].
  45. (May 29, 2010). "MacRumors Reaches Ten Million Forum Posts [Updated]".
  46. (May 3, 2010). "MacRumors Blood Drive".
  47. O'Rourke, Dara. (August 31, 2012). "Shopping for Good". MIT Press.
  48. Clover, Juli. (September 17, 2014). "iOS 8 Hidden Features Video: Battery Usage By App, Hidden Photos, Siri Hands-Free, and More".
  49. (October 16, 2014). "Apple triples down on security by 'hiring' Stephen Colbert". [[CNET]].
  50. Slivka, Eric. (February 24, 2020). "MacRumors is 20 Years Old Today".
  51. Charlton, Hartley. (December 29, 2021). "Introducing 'The MacRumors Show' Podcast".
  52. Charlton, Hartley. (January 6, 2022). "The MacRumors Show: Mark Gurman Talks Through Everything Apple is Expected to Announce in 2022".
  53. Gurman, Mark. (14 August 2023). "Everything Apple is Expected to Announce in 2022 ft. Mark Gurman". [[AudioBoom]].
  54. Charlton, Hartley. (May 26, 2023). "The MacRumors Show: Arnold Kim Discusses History of MacRumors and More".
  55. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  56. Charlton, Hartley. (June 7, 2023). "The MacRumors Show: WWDC 2023 Recap and Vision Pro First Impressions With Andru Edwards and Kevin Nether".
  57. (7 June 2023). "WWDC 2023 Recap Live from Apple Park ft. Andru Edwards & Kevin Nether". [[AudioBoom]].
  58. (September 30, 2008). "Forgetting Sarah Marshall Official DVD Commentary".
  59. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].
  60. Lodge, Sally. (October 24, 2017). "Four Questions for Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller".
  61. Hodapp, Eli. (June 23, 2015). "TouchArcade Needs Your Help, Please Support Our Patreon".
  62. Herbert, Chris. (May 8, 2012). "Review: TouchArcade for iPhone".
  63. (June 14, 2021). "Anybody know why AppShopper.com is shutting down?".
  64. Kim, Arnold. (14 August 2023). "The History of MacRumors.com ft. Founder Arnold Kim". [[AudioBoom]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

internet-forumsinternet-properties-established-in-2000macintosh-websites