Now entering the second year since their introduction, Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) EarPods, an advanced replacement for earbuds, are allegedly soon to be updated with striking new features. The latest information is being spread by an app called Secret, which, like rival apps such as Cloaq, is designed to provide a platform for tech rumors and discussions about them. According to the post which appeared there, a battery of new, cutting edge Apple technologies will be built into what one might call “Earbuds 2.0.”
The assertions tend towards the exciting end of the spectrum. The new “pods” are said to include iBeacons, enabling a user with an iPhone to home in on them so that they cannot be lost. This is similar to the iBeacon technology that is planned for the “Tzukuris” sunglasses, if their crowdfunding gets off the ground. Furthermore, the rumor asserts that heart rate monitoring and blood pressure measurement via embedded sensors will be one of the new EarPods’ functions.
The rumor further declares that the updated EarPods will attach only to a Lightning port, explaining the realignment of the audio jack.
The heart rate monitor part of the rumor, at least, is probably accurate, because it aligns with patent documents published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). From there, it is not too difficult to extrapolate a blood pressure monitor also. The iBeacon inclusion strays rather further into speculative territory.
The website Patently Apple published a combined reporting and opinion piece raising doubts about the usefulness of Secret and other “social rumor” apps as sources of accurate information. Secret also spread a rumor that the new details about Apple’s (AAPL) next generation EarPods were leaked by an Apple employee with a grudge to settle with the Cupertino firm.
This is completely false, without even a grain of truth, yet, as Patently Apple pointed out, it was disseminated by people along with more accurate information. The article also speculates on how the app will encourage ever more extravagant rumors in an effort to gain likes, views, and fame. In effect, the app incentivizes flooding the information stream with false but sensational material by attention seekers. This is a fact that could have serious repercussions if a person were, for example, to be publicly accused of leaking something they did not actually leak.
Despite the rumors, however, it is clear that Apple Inc. (AAPL) has at least some intriguing enhancements in mind for the upcoming release of “EarBuds 2.” Ironically, the rumor has the effect of reinforcing, rather than piercing, Apple’s veil of secrecy and mystery, because all claimed inside knowledge will now be suspect and only Apple’s announcements and actual releases can be counted to to be reliable sources of data.
