Readers should rightly file the following tidbit under “highly-speculative”: a rumor site suggests this morning Apple is looking to hire a blogger. The Cupertino, Calif. company supposedly met publicly with a mobile editor for Tech Crunch, now owned by AOL. A tipster thought he saw the usually-secretive Apple PR team hand the blogger what was described as “an offer packet.”
Before someone takes the report hook, line and sinker, there are caution flags waving and warning sirens blaring. For starters, there was the Keystone Cops incident over the lost (or stolen?) iPhone 4 prototype. Remember how Gizmodo’s possession and eventual return of the device triggered a police investigation amid Apple’s claims the handset was stolen? Remember how Apple sued (then settled) with the blogger behind thinksecret.com over unauthorized leaks?
Still, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has almost become a regular contributor to some blogs, firing off short missives on products and services. Other mobile companies, such as Nokia and Orange, have also hired professional bloggers to tout their brands. However, doesn’t Apple already have a wide array of bloggers commenting on every major (as well as minor) announcements impacting the company and its millions of customers?
