The End Of Evleaks: Why The Internet’s Top Tech Leaker Gave Up

You may not have noticed yesterday that the Twitter account of one of the most prolific tech leakers in history fell silent. The cold light of Monday came around, however, and we knew it to be true: Evleaks has retired his life of leaks. Here’s why.

For those not familiar with Evleaks, you’re probably in the minority. He consistently produced some of the most accurate, in-depth scoops on unreleased tech on the internet. So much so that when Evleaks tweeted, outlets like Gizmodo, Engadget, The Verge and other tech blogs ran them as gospel. He was right more often than he was wrong, and had an incredible track record for accurate leaks.

As of today, Evleaks has amassed over 186,000 followers on Twitter, using the social service to send out phone scoops almost daily. It was these 186,000 followers who found out first yesterday that Evleaks — whose real name is Evan Blass — would be giving up the game.

Blass was a former writer for Engadget and PocketNow, who turned leaker after his time at the latter in early-2012. He explained to The Next Web today that after two years of being the number one leaker online, he was giving it away simply because it’s an unprofitable enterprise.

“These matters are always somewhat complicated, but like many things, it mostly comes down to money. Trying to monetize a stream of Twitter leaks is not easy. First I tried monthly sponsorships. Then weekly. Then single sponsored tweets. I took donations — felt like online panhandling,” he explained.

Blass added that his leaking started on Twitter, the success of which cannibalised his website and the advertising it carried. Blass added that he wants to move into something where he can earn more cash to help set him up for later life following a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis.

“It all adds up to an unsustainable living, and with a progressively worsening disease, I need to make sure I can prepare myself better for the future, financially…I plan to start another career now, for reasons stated above. Hopefully one with some matching 401k action.” he added.

Companies like Samsung, HTC, Sony and Apple will probably love that Evleaks is no more, but we’ll certainly miss his work. And from the looks of things, others will too.

For those wondering, a new high-quality rendering of the Moto 360 was his last leak.

Godspeed, Evan.

Check out the full interview with the man himself on The Next Web.


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