Not very thoughtful, I'd say. Every single store in the world wants employees who sell stuff, and one way to sell stuff is a smiling face and telling people how great the products are. Telling customers when new products will arrive doesn't help selling at all, because the new products are not in the store yet. Therefore knowing when new products will arrive can't help an employee doing his or her job, it can only distract them.
And you know _nothing_ about new product releases. You read rumours. Most of them are nonsense and / or wishful thinking. Reasonable people don't actually _care_ about new product releases. Either the goods in the store are worth the money to them, so they buy, or they are not worth the money, so they don't buy. Most people don't have this irrational fear that there might be a new product out soon and then they will feel bad or cheated.
And lastly, where do you get this "cult-like atmosphere" thing from? If you are seeing "cult-like" behaviour when it doesn't exist, then maybe something is wrong with your perception? Or you are just repeating the same tired old nonsense from people who cannot understand why Apple is successful?