Via Techmeme

FORTUNE -- It is perhaps a measure of how badly broken today's commercial TV viewing experience is -- the cookie-cutter sitcoms, the ridiculous reality shows,the ever-shifting channel line-ups, the relentless, merciless commercial breaks -- that the tech press is so desperate to believe even the slimmest rumor that Apple (AAPL) is getting ready to solve all that by building its own television set.

Take, for example, last week's report that Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou announced at a press conference in Shanghai that his Foxconn subsidiary was "making preparations for iTV."

By Friday the report had spawned dozens of headlines. A sample:

What none of these reporters mentioned (or apparently bothered to consider) is that 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 (SNE), Microsoft (MSFT), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and the rest. He is trusted by his business partners because he never leaks their secrets.

Terry Gou. Photo via M.I.C. Gadget

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?

I'd say, nil.

So what was the source for this latest iTV story?

It was single item in China Daily -- an English-language newspaper based in Beijing. The dateline is Shanghai. The byline isGao Changxin. The headline reads: "Foxconn plans renewed shift into distribution."

See the original post here:
Anatomy of an iTV rumor