Last week, a report from a Chinese news site called ChinaDaily published an article suggesting that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou said that the company was “making preparations for iTV, Apple’s rumored upcoming high-definition television.” From then on, the statement made its way around the internet leaving behind it, a trail of news articles stating that the CEO of Foxconn had confirmed Apple’s iTV or HDTV.
However, in a statement that was given to the folks over at TheNextWeb, Foxconn now states that it’s CEO did not confirm Apple’s rumored television set in any way. As opposed to the report that indicated Gou saying that Foxconn were preparing for the iTV, the company claims that he might have actually meant that, in the situation that Apple (or anyone else apparently) would want to make the iTV or anything else, Foxconn will be prepared to meet the manufacturing needs of its customers.
Fortune apparently dissected the rumor a while back saying,
Gou — whose factories assemble 40% of the world’s electronic devices — is one of the industry’s most secretive executives. He is privy to the future product plans of the most valuable electronics brands — not just Apple, but also Sony, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and the rest. He is trusted by his business partners because he never leaks their secrets.
Given how jealously Apple guards its own secrets, and how relentlessly it pursues those who spill them, what are the chances that Gou would say anything — ever — about an unannounced Apple product, real or imagined?
Reports suggest that the information could have been misinterpreted through translation or even the possibility of the article being tampered with before it went into print but for both the reasons, they are just suggestions and in no way indicating that that is what actually happened. Given this clarification by Foxconn of the Apple iTV for now, it looks like the odd rumor or alleged leak every few weeks or so will just have to suffice for now.