This culture of leaks - good? bad?

[mileRunner]

Well, the October 6th event has come and gone. In the weeks leading up to the event there were countless leaks - for both phones, for the Surface 4, even for the band. When reading comments and articles for yesterday's event it could appear that on the one hand these leaks were mainly inconsequential - the event was an across the board success, just about everything was received positively, Microsoft was buttoned down in their presentation; the best one in a long time many observers claim.

So is it just that a company needs to listen to its consumers, incorporate their needs in a product, and bring it to market, no matter how telegraphed the process is. Or does the element of surprise matter? After all the biggest bang from yesterday's presentation was the one product that was not leaked - the Surface Book. It seems to be the one that is getting people to talk and react, even bring some commentators previously cold to Microsoft to have some glowing remarks.

Do leaks then, perpetuate interest by making the topic/product constant when it would otherwise not be in the news or do they dullen the impact and with it the magic necessary to create something bigger that just a good product but something people think is great.

 

[Harrie-S]

A very interesting observation.
I think it's a bit of both.
Leaks are "press" so people talk about it and that is "free advertising" but then again the "surprise" is "spoiled" if you know it already "before".

It's like the time before Xmas (or a similar date where you get presents). "Guessing" what presents you get is part off the Xmas "experience" so if there is no "suspense" there is no Xmas "feeling" but if you already know what you get the surprise is gone.

 

[jmshub]

I'd argue that Microsoft may have planted the leaks. At the very least, with the 950 phones. After such a long period of time without a flagship phone release, there was a lot of grousing from fans. Certainly there was a period of time where this forum was nothing but grumbling on when or if we would see another flagship phone. I think that while Microsoft wasn't ready to announce or release a phone, they had to let slip a little information that may assuage our fears. Thus, leak out a little information, keep people on the hook.

As you said, the SP4 was leaked, the Band was leaked, but these updates were more or less predictable. A Surface finally powered by the most recent chipsets has been long overdue, and a more rounded, ergonomic Band was predicted since Microsoft released the first Band.

But the big crown jewel of the announcement, the entirely new Surface Book, was not mentioned previously, and was able to stun everyone. I think that is quite possible that Microsoft is playing the press a little bit, or at the very least, guarding the secrecy level of the different products.

 

[Muessig]

I'm in two minds about leaks. I understand that the marketing machine will use leaks to keep mindshare high - so some leaks will be purposeful in order to make sure people are still thinking about their devices and trying to build a demand or excitement about them. I think this is necessary to some degree.

But then you get excessive leaks like with the 950 devices, where we literally knew everything about them (except for the liquid cooling on the XL) before the event. I think we need surprises or for device makers to innovate in ways we don't expect and they can't do this is we already know everything.

 

[920Walker]

Curiosity didn't kill the cat, it intrigued him to evolve.

 

[Harrie-S]

Curiosity didn't kill the cat, it intrigued him to evolve.

No the killing of everyone on the RED Dwarf (by Rimmer) and 3 million years evolved the CAT.