Don't tell anyone I told you.....

[RichyHo]

Hi all

I was just wondering how Apple manage to keep the lid on their forthcoming products so successfully. When you look at all the possible leak points from design through manufacture to storage and transportation there are just so many ways for information to get out.

And yet it doesn't. Well, nearly all of the time anyway. So what stops people talking?

In any large company there are always a number of people who don't enjoy what they do for a living and the threat of losing their jobs might not be as great as it would be to someone who loves their work. How often do we hear from these potential whistle-blowers?

OK, so there will be NDA's all over the place, but maybe there are incentives as well? You know, like if a product gets launched without a single accurate rumour appearing then everyone involved gets a bonus or something?

?

Rich

 

[Mattydj]

It's probably down to the fact that most of the people at apple in fact do not know anything about whats going on. The information is all kept in the dev department as you could call it until it's announced at keynote or released.

 

[RichyHo]

It's probably down to the fact that most of the people at apple in fact do not know anything about whats going on. The information is all kept in the dev department as you could call it until it's announced at keynote or released.

But what about products where the first thing you hear from Mr. Jobs is "And the great news is you can buy it today at the apple store". These products must've been in the pipeline for months before this date and yet so little is revealed.

 

[Jasonbot]

Steve Jobs has a friend that "Sorts out problems" :|

 

[Mattydj]

But what about products where the first thing you hear from Mr. Jobs is "And the great news is you can buy it today at the apple store". These products must've been in the pipeline for months before this date and yet so little is revealed.

I've read that the products arrive at the stores very shortly before the product is announced so people don't really have a chance to leak it.

 

[RichyHo]

I've read that the products arrive at the stores very shortly before the product is announced so people don't really have a chance to leak it.

But by this stage, the products will have been in development/testing/manufacture/transit for a considerable amount of time prior to arriving in-store. It's with the 'people' involved in these earlier stages where I see the potential for info leaks.

I can understand how you hide the info from store workers, but how do you stop people further back down the production line from spilling the beans?

 

[Mr Skills]

Well, one clue is that even top Cingular board members were only briefly shown a non-working dummy iPhone before the announcement. And this is a company that had to make significant network changes to accommodate it!

I imagine that Apple operate on a strict need-to-know basis; for example, people transporting parts don't need to know what those parts are.

On the other hand, Apple's products are so well-integrated (both within products and between them) that 'need to know' must extend pretty broadly. So their tight ship is impressive.


.

 

[MisterMe]

But by this stage, the products will have been in development/testing/manufacture/transit for a considerable amount of time prior to arriving in-store. It's with the 'people' involved in these earlier stages where I see the potential for info leaks.

...

I guess you don't keep up. What you suggest has been done in the past. However, Apple has developed strategies to catch the leakers and fire them. One such strategy is to give differing versions of information about products in development. Whoever leaks will leak only his version, or even totally bogus information. This makes it a lot easier to trace the leak back to its source.

 

[kitki83]

Well I know when they ship new model computers they are in brown packaging instead of the typical style. I know someone who works in shipping and tells me, which I know means new computer. So the people working wont know what it is.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

Supposedly, when Apple designs a new product, everyone from software programmers to designers to hardware engineers are involved at every stage — which is why neither design nor function ever seem tacked on at the end.

There must be a lot of people in the know on every new product, but it seems that Apple employees are actually happy with their job and don't want to spoil things. The company is also known for hunting down leaks and firing employees.

 

[FleurDuMal]

I also wonder how Apple manage it. It isn't easy. Look at Microsoft for example. They have just released the Xbox 360 Elite, which was the worst kept secret ever. There were always grainy photos of production lines and boxes being put up on the net. I've never seen this happen to Apple (recently).

Still, it'd be nice if we did have something to get our teeth into though.

 

[00hkelly]

everything is done in house, there are contracts to make sure nobody speaks and Mr. Jobs leads a double life as a ninja hitman for when they do!

[edit] watch out for the crappiest corniest non joke of a joke ever.

 

[Shadow]

Steve Jobs has a friend that "Sorts out problems" :|

Really? I was under the impression the RDF makes everyone at Apple oblivious to the new products, yet really want them anyway.

 

[osirisX]

I imagine the development of products is split up and everything is on a need to know basis. The only guys that would have full knowledge of upcoming products would be: Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ive, some other high ranking Apple dudes and the graphic guys. The graphic guys would need to know because they would be making all the promotionals and stuff.