In celebration of yesterday's announcement of the iPod shuffle and Mac mini, here's a quick list of notable Apple product hoaxes and scams from the past couple of years.
P-P-P-Powerbook - scam
An obviously fake Powerbook was constructed at the advice of the Something Awful forums, in order to scam an eBay scammer. This notorious reverse scam was documented in particular detail.
p-p-p-powerbook.com
G5 iMac - hoax
This photo was strangely posted with no claims whatsoever, but the implication was that it was a new product, possibly the expected new iMac. Later in the forum thread, the poster admitted it was a 20" LaCie LCD screen in a 15" Powerbook box.
appleinsider.com
iPod flash - false mockup
Not a hoax per se, but I felt it belongs on this list. Based on insider descriptions of the flash-based iPod, themacmind.com made a 3d render mockup that ended up being pretty close to the real iPod shuffle.
themacmind.com
iPhone - hoax
Someone modified a photo of an advertisement for the Sony Ericson T610/616 to look like what could be a rumored iTunes-compatible cell phone. The rumor mill says that Apple is working with Motorola to create such a phone, but no reliable photos have shown up, yet.
macrumors.com
iHustle - scam
An NYU student was scammed into buying a fake Powerbook for $200 from a guy on the street. The scammer put a lot more effort into it than would be really necessary.
viceland.com
iHome - hoax
A series of photos of a cardboard box made to look like the rumored headless iMac. Wasn't too far off from the Mac mini, and since it was released only a couple of days in advance, there wasn't a lot of time for disproofs before it became moot.
engadget.com
simonwoodside.com