Beware of Today’s Latest Apple Inc. (AAPL) Rumor

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) generates more buzz than any other tech company on the blogosphere, and sometimes, there are rumors that investors shouldn’t give a second glance. We’ve covered some of these questionable stories in the past, and they’ve included the media’s overreaction to a Black Friday study and multiple Apple iPhone rumors reported as fact. Heck, even last week, a bogus Facebook story briefly hurt FB shares, and we all remember the fake Google acquisition story in November.

As we’ve mentioned before, our point is this: many armchair analysts simple misread a story’s original source, and that’s how we find ourselves getting into this situation.

Today’s latest Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) news is that the company is testing its next smartphone and operating system, according to TheNextWeb. In TNW’s original story, developers are speculating “that Apple has been testing hardware relating to a new ‘iPhone6,1′ identifier, powered by a device running iOS 7.” The story also mentions the following:

“From the developer logs that we have seen, the app requests originate from an IP address on Apple’s Cupertino campus, suggesting that members of Apple’s software development and app teams are compatibility testing some of the more popular or well-known applications already on the App Store. Although OS and device data can be faked, the unique IP footprint leading back to Apple’s Cupertino campus leads us to believe this is not one of those attempts.

Let us be clear by stating that there is nothing wrong with TNW’s report; the outlet does not make any mention of a specific iPhone model. That hasn’t stopped some media outlets from deeming the news as evidence that the phone in development must be Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone 6. Frankly, this doesn’t make much sense.

Even more egregiously, this misinformation is branded as a “report,” despite the fact that TNW’s original story made no mentions of which iPhone model may be under testing.

So what should rational investors actually expect from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in 2013?