What if someone in the press misheard an Apple employee talking, and did that – pretty normal – press thing of inflating it beyond all proportion? What if it became a pretty standard Silicon Valley / noomeedya / excited geek Chinese whispers kind of thing, no basis of truth whatsoever:

“…well there I was at the bar, and I said to him that – well, Wednesday 27th January is late for a product launch”

I mean, it wouldn’t take much, would it? A crowded room, a misheard phrase. iSlate. Is late.

Maybe “An Apple spokesman said the company did not comment on rumours” actually means “there is no fucking iSlate“?

Maybe Jobs has spent the last week desperately trying to rustle up a product, an idea, anything that fits the hype which was created out of a false rumour? Imagine the board room scene:

Jobs: “What do you mean, we have NOTHING?”

Employee: “Sir, I’m sorry, we’re just all out of ideas”

Jobs: “Nothing at all?”

Employee: “Well, we just got these shots of an iPhone and – like – well, Photoshopped them a bit and it kinda looks quite cool…”

Jobs: “But you don’t actually HAVE one, right? There IS NO PRODUCT?”

Employee: “….well…er…not as such, no”

…just sayin’…