The teenager scooping biz journalists with his Apple coverage

Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune writes about Mark Gurman, the 18-year-old high school student who has been beating the other business media with his scoops on Apple that he writes for Seth Weintraub’s 9to5Mac.

Elmer-DeWitt writes, “I ran into Gurman in San Francisco, where he is attending Apple’s developer sessions. He clammed up when I asked him where he gets his stories. But Weintraub — who hired Gurman two years ago when he realized the teenager had his finger on Apple’s pulse — was more forthcoming. Some of his stories come from sources inside Apple, but most are based on what used to be called old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting — poring over Apple’s published documents and building a network of Apple developers and parts suppliers that he hammers relentlessly.

“Gurman is a little worried that the attention he’s been getting — we wrote about him last week and Bloomberg News mentioned his work on Tuesday — could bring down Apple’s wrath.

“But he also craves Apple’s recognition. He lights up when he hears that Apple public relations has asked about him, and he mentions proudly that senior VP Phil Schiller knows who he is. A few months ago, someone prank-called Schiller claiming to be Gurman. Mark got a call the next day from Apple PR saying that if he wanted any information about the company, he should go through their department.”

Read more here.