The best-sourced reporter covering Apple Inc.,one of the world’s most secretive companies, is a 20-year-old junior at the University of Michigan, Michael Rosenwald reports in the Columbia Journalism Review..
His name is Mark Gurman.
He makes more than six figures a year as senior editor and scoop master at 9to5Mac.com, a news outlet most people have never heard of. In the interest of truth, which Gurman is known to pursue with almost religious zeal, it should be noted that he sometimes types stories in class.
Gurman’s scoops, beginning in high school, have included stories about Apple’s foray into tablets, new phone designs, the arrival of Siri, the dropping of Google maps, how Apple stores operate, how new operating systems work and look, and, most recently, how the company plans to integrate health and fitness tracking into its devices. Gurman’s stories serve multiple audiences.
The primary one is Apple obsessives, for whom even a report on a new button design is life changing. Another is the mainstream tech press, which reads his stories for clues about Apple’s larger strategy, a Rubik’s-like puzzle given Apple’s stealthiness and complexity.
“He drives that site the way Nate Silver did at The New York Times,” said Kara Swisher, who with Walt Mossberg co-founded Re/Code. “He’s the show as far as any of us are concerned in Silicon Valley. He’s the brand.”
