Keeping the iPhone Secret

[MacRumors]

CNN.com has an interesting article about the secrecy surrounding the Apple iPhone. What's been remarkable about the iPhone launch is that few accurate details of the phone were leaked prior to the launch. Part of Apple's success in keeping the details under wraps is the 5 month lead-time on the announcement. That being said, their level of secrecy, even with their wireless provider has reached new levels:

Even so, Apple didn't show Cingular the final iPhone prototype until just weeks before this week's debut. In some cases, Apple crafted bogus handset prototypes to show not just to Cingular executives, but also to Apple's own workers.

This would explain why even though knowledge of an iPhone product was widespread, the exact details of the device were successfully shielded.

In the coming days, we will look back at rumors and recap where the most accurate information came from.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

It must be so freakin cool working for them.

 

[Whiteapple]

Yes, where is our "candy-bar form factor" iPhone?

 

[Poff]

Imo, this is what makes Apple one of the coolest companies out there..

Btw. I really hope they open up the platform to other software. A java-enabler or something. Not being able to play Worms on my phone would really suck.

And I hope they release a bluetooth keyboard for sms and email too. Typing on a screen sounds difficult. As long as you don't have a phone such as the Neonode, where you actually don't have to touch the screen. (I've always wanted the neonode, btw, since it had no buttons and a big screen. Good thing Apple caught up and made something similar, but even better.)

 

[Frisco]

I love Apple! They are more secretive than the CIA.

 

[LastZion]

Well done apple, secrets are hard to keep.

 

[MrFirework]

It is impressive, with so many working so hard to find these secrets that they kept it locked down so well.

Truly astounding.

Bravo.

 

[Poff]

Yes, where is our "candy-bar form factor" iPhone?

Yeah, I actually really wanted that phone! I really hope they make a phone sized like the iPod nano if the current iPhone gets successful..

 

[Poff]

It must be so freakin cool working for them.

Must be terrible working for them. Sacrificing your family and free-time. Don't even get to know what you're making. Cool for the single ones with the top-jobs, bad for the married ones with lower jobs.

 

[twoodcc]

wow, so they basically lied to cingular and their own workers? i guess that's one way to do it ....

 

[p0intblank]

Great article; I loved reading it! I love Apple. They're such an interesting company, especially when compared to everyone else out there. They do things differently.

 

[Clive At Five]

I reread 10 people whose reputations rest on the release of an Apple Cell Phone following the announcement and thought to myself, "Funny, really, that each of them got something right and something wrong." By the amount that Shaw Wu has been blabbing about the device, I can bet Apple knows who his source is... especially on account of this statement:

In some cases, Apple crafted bogus handset prototypes to show not just to Cingular executives, but also to Apple's own workers.

Oh, Apple. I love your Kage tactics, you paranoid freaks.

-Clive

 

[mainstreetmark]

Imo, this is what makes Apple one of the coolest companies out there..

Btw. I really hope they open up the platform to other software. A java-enabler or something. Not being able to play Worms on my phone would really suck.

I gotta believe that this WILL be an open platform. After all, who cares that it runs OSX or not if you, the owner, don't get to do stuff with it.

My feelings are that the phone is running the iPhone version of Leopard, and that when Leopard is released, you'll be able to write apps for iPhone with Xcode. Res-independence and all that kind of stuff.

 

[EagerDragon]

Must be terrible working for them. Sacrificing your family and free-time. Don't even get to know what you're making. Cool for the single ones with the top-jobs, bad for the married ones with lower jobs.

I been in a lot of companies + the goverment, where your location and what you are working on is not allowed to be discussed with family or friends. They get used to it (family) or you wind up in divorce court.

Lets see ..... 3rd wife now, starting a nice collection, LOL.

 

[Rocketman]

I refer yu to my Macrumors posts with the string "make it so".

I am not under Apple NDA.

Rocketman

 

[EagerDragon]

I refer yu to my Macrumors posts with the string "make it so".

I am not under Apple NDA.

Rocketman

Want to copy it here or tell us where?
I did search for those words and it gave me a heck of a lot of forums, you are very prolofic at posting so you are all over the site.

 

[bbydon]

i wonder who jobs is going to send to kill all the leakers of the fake phone.

 

[whooleytoo]

Must be terrible working for them. Sacrificing your family and free-time. Don't even get to know what you're making. Cool for the single ones with the top-jobs, bad for the married ones with lower jobs.

Actually, it's funny working for them. For months you'd work with a prototype system that bore no relation to the final product (the prototype cube was almost a foot tall, and the TiBook was in a clear 'plastic' box about the size of a thick phone book); then you'd watch the keynote, see the final form factor and wonder how they hell they fit all that in there. It's pretty much been that way for every product since the first iMac.

I am impressed they've kept this one so well under wraps, considering - more than most Apple products - it required a lot of 3rd party collaboration.

 

[Poff]

I been in a lot of companies + the goverment, where your location and what you are working on is not allowed to be discussed with family or friends. They get used to it (family) or you wind up in divorce court.

Lets see ..... 3rd wife now, starting a nice collection, LOL.

Hehe.. so most don't get used to it?

My point with apple is that their families don't see them for months at a time. And that's hard for both children and partner. To believe anything else is to believe a lie.

 

[sbrhwkp3]

Very well done Apple. I can't believe they went as far as making decoys to keep it a secret.

 

[wonderkid]

It was no secret to those who follow closely...

I have been following the 'iPhone' since, ooh, 7 years ago! Who owns iphone.org? (Take a looksi.) And did any MacRumors readers follow up on these guys - who not only make the iPod scroll wheel / touch sensors but whose concept device includes one or two iPhone innovations, such as detecting when the phone is held to the ear:http://www.synaptics.com/onyx/

 

[unregbaron]

Multiple dummy phones and 'revealing' them to different people is a shrewd move: you can then track who's leaking what to whom. I wonder if Kevin Rose was one of the victims?

 

[Stella]

As good products as Apple release, I'd hate to work for them.

Companies must strike a balance between their needs and the needs of employees. Life is not all work work work and one that revolves solely around your employer.

A happy employee is a productive employee, mostly!

However, it is impressive how Apple kept it all a secret.

I hope the employees and their families didn't suffer too much due to over work etc.

 

[theheadguy]

As good products as Apple release, I'd hate to work for them.
Companies must strike a balance between their needs and the needs of employees. Life is not all work work work and one that revolves solely around your employer.

Agreed. I am much happier as just a user now. Not to say I wouldn't go back if the next position offered more of a personal life. It is possible to work there and be very happy, but I think most people see the cool product and imagine that all the work there must just be awesome.

 

[garfield2002]

I am glad to hear that Apple has sucessfully tightened security. With the large amounts of leaked information in the most recent set of product releases I was starting to worry that Apple was losing its' touch. As long as the announced products continue to live up to expectations, this type of business model is great. I say this becuase, even though there are 5+ months until the release of the iPhone, the product seems tangible and real. This is in sharp contrast to other companies who RUSH to announce a product that may never see the light of day. Good job Apple.