Apple's 'Stopping Leakers - Keeping Confidential' Employee Seminar Leaks Online

[dysamoria]

Nothing has been leaked so far.
True - however let’s be honest, there’s been nothing job worthy of leaking.

...

iMac Pro - Fair play, that was a surprise however possibly because it’s so far away that it’s not reached most people.

It wasn't at all a surprise to content creators and other power users relying on heavy-lifting, modular computers that Apple seems to have decided aren't necessary anymore. The expectation was that Apple would release an iMac Pro, and never again anything like the Mac Pro. This iMac Pro was probably in development before someone at Apple finally got it through their thick skulls that an iMac Pro would forever seal the gates between Apple and power users and content creators. When they announced working on a future modular Mac Pro a few months back, that was damage control. They also told us about the thing they were almost ready to present: an iMac aimed at professionals... to hopefully hold on to the remaining pros who wanted a real Mac Pro, not just a Mac mini Pro.

.. but they're contradicting themselves a little by announcing products that won't be available until december, right?

Not at all. Damage control. See above.

The article addresses this...
[doublepost=1497971578][/doublepost]Someone tell Alanis about this

Alanis didn't seem to understand irony, if you pay attention to her song's lyrics.

The leaks are mostly iPhone related. They're doing very well with the other product categories...

Because they're doing almost no development in those other product categories, and what development they're doing isn't of much interest to leakers and reporters... because iPhone. It's all about what gets the most attention and stock prices. This is why Apple has been ignoring pros with much different needs compared to end consumers. It seems like a sensible business tactic ... but only on the level of a narrow-minded, myopic accountant.

What a F'n Joke! Coming from the same man who applauded Bradley/Chelsea Manning who leaked millions of classified documents causing untold amounts of damage.

Damage to what? The United States government's ability to lie to its own people?

Also, this quote from that leaked presentation about not leaking things was precious:

"He even compared Apple's screening of its factory workers to be more intense than that of the TSA."

That's not an impressive feat. At all.

 

[Tech198]

A document about stopping leaks gets leaked. I love it.

HAHA..

The only way they will ever stop the leaks is by pre-announcing products before they get to manufacturing.

The problem stems from lack of security in Foxconn and Apple supply chains.. Anyone can raise their right hand and 'pretend' to take the oath. That's not security,,,, that's just trusting a bunch of nobody's.
If you can't trust the ones u work with, then don't tell them. and do it yourself. That's why no one knows about my security habits, and never will.

The act dealing with other people.. Its not impossible,,, its just "to hard to do right"

 

[EdT]

This obsession with secrecy is a legacy of Apple's focus on consumers and not industry and professionals.

Intel makes a roadmap available because professionals and businesses need to know what is coming.

And while I won't go the the extreme of claims that Apple isn't innovative any more, it is true that there hasn't been anything recently that actually warranted a "one more thing" kind of reveal.

Apple has changed and this fascination with secrecy is what is known as institutionalization. It is a practice that is continued even though the purpose for which it was created is no longer valid.

I don't agree 100%, but I think you are a lot more right than you are wrong. I don't see a good reason for the extreme secrecy vs. what ends up being released or sold.

 

[576316]

The problem stems from lack of security in Foxconn and Apple supply chains..

At this point...would it not be worthwhile for Apple to create their own fabrication company in competition with Foxconn? I mean, I don't know how these things work or if it just wouldn't be worth their time, but they're like the biggest company in the world...they could be producing all their own hardware. That would certainly help keep things under lock and key because then they're not having to trust a 3rd party company with their product secrecy.

 

[DJinTX]

Alanis didn't seem to understand irony, if you pay attention to her song's lyrics.

I have always partially disagreed with the media's reaction to these lyrics. True, some of the occurrences of "irony" detailed in the song are just annoyances or bad luck, but there is some legitimate irony as well.

1. If the "Old Man" who dies had always lived his life with an intense focus on winning the lottery and bought a ticket weekly, then I would argue him dying the day after winning was ironic.
2. Being pardoned from death row right after they flipped the switch, also fits the bill imo.
3. Being afraid to fly in a plane, finally overcoming this and agreeing to go on the flight, only for the plane to crash.

These all employ irony.
Not so much for the fly in the wine glass or an inconvenient rain storm.
Alanis got a lot of flack for the song, but I think it was overblown.

 

[GreyOS]

Alanis didn't seem to understand irony, if you pay attention to her song's lyrics.

Exactly my point, if you pay attention to my post's words. Know-it-all.

 

[dysamoria]

I have always partially disagreed with the media's reaction to these lyrics. True, some of the occurrences of "irony" detailed in the song are just annoyances or bad luck, but there is some legitimate irony as well.

1. If the "Old Man" who dies had always lived his life with an intense focus on winning the lottery and bought a ticket weekly, then I would argue him dying the day after winning was ironic.
2. Being pardoned from death row right after they flipped the switch, also fits the bill imo.
3. Being afraid to fly in a plane, finally overcoming this and agreeing to go on the flight, only for the plane to crash.

These all employ irony.
Not so much for the fly in the wine glass or an inconvenient rain storm.
Alanis got a lot of flack for the song, but I think it was overblown.

Probably. She was a target in general and I don't jive with that.
[doublepost=1497990235][/doublepost]

Exactly my point, if you pay attention to my post's words. Know-it-all.

I did pay attention. Maybe your point was too subtle or vague. Care to enlighten this "know it all"?

 

[Nunyabinez]

What purpose was it created for?

The purpose of the secrecy was that SJ was creating products that people didn't know they couldn't live without until they saw them. Those kinds of products require secrecy for the "magic" of the big reveal.

When your reveal is "it's 10% thinner and lighter" the secrecy and the build up just pisses people off.

 

[DJinTX]

The purpose of the secrecy was that SJ was creating products that people didn't know they couldn't live without until they saw them. Those kinds of products require secrecy for the "magic" of the big reveal.

When your reveal is "it's 10% thinner and lighter" the secrecy and the build up just pisses people off.

I agree that secrecy will always piss some people off, mainly those of us here, not so much mom and pop from Wisconsin. However, if I am Apple and I know letting too much slip too soon in the product cycle will cause a large number of people to not buy what I already have on store shelves, then I am likely going to be hush hush on the new model coming also. No way around it really.

 

[applezulu]

The overstated irony of this article aside, here's something.

Over a year ago [Correction: seven months, not over a year go... There was a different thing with Airport earlier in 2016], a single Forbes [Correction: Bloomberg, not Forbes] article came out, announcing that Apple was 'abandoning' the Airport product line, (the evidence being some engineers were being reassigned to other projects) and in the frenzy that followed, some sources announced that the things were already disappearing from shelves, and there was much gnashing of teeth after that. Commenters on this and other sites were even declaring that, based on this rumor alone, they would be rushing out to replace their company's Airport router hardware, because... I don't even understand the because.

Then, some sites had to start walking things back. All three Airport products remained available and on shelves, and Apple has continued issuing periodic firmware updates for them.

It's an open question what Apple's plans are for wireless networking gear, but they continue with their efforts to build the HomeKit standard, and they've announced these HomePod speakers which could be placed in a few spots around the house, ideal for controlling HomeKit devices from anywhere and extending a mesh network to make the things reliable. (But they didn't say that. They just said they'll sound great.) Could an enhanced replacement for AirPort soon be a "one more thing" announcement? There sure seems to be some dark matter in the home ecosystem they're developing, and it seems highly unlikely that the answer is that they're just going to abandon the literal heart of home networking to a bunch of competitors that make insecure, unreliable, and ugly devices with big antennas pointing all over the place.

It sure looks to me like they've done a pretty good job of not leaking what their answer is to that particular gap.

 

[DJinTX]

The overstated irony of this article aside, here's something.

Over a year ago, a single Forbes article came out, announcing that Apple was 'abandoning' the Airport product line, (the evidence being some engineers were being reassigned to other projects) and in the frenzy that followed, some sources announced that the things were already disappearing from shelves, and there was much gnashing of teeth after that. Commenters on this and other sites were even declaring that, based on this rumor alone, they would be rushing out to replace their company's Airport router hardware, because... I don't even understand the because.

Then, some sites had to start walking things back. All three Airport products remained available and on shelves, and Apple has continued issuing periodic firmware updates for them.

It's an open question what Apple's plans are for wireless networking gear, but they continue with their efforts to build the HomeKit standard, and they've announced these HomePod speakers which could be placed in a few spots around the house, ideal for controlling HomeKit devices from anywhere and extending a mesh network to make the things reliable. (But they didn't say that. They just said they'll sound great.) Could an enhanced replacement for AirPort soon be a "one more thing" announcement? There sure seems to be some dark matter in the home ecosystem they're developing, and it seems highly unlikely that the answer is that they're just going to abandon the literal heart of home networking to a bunch of competitors that make insecure, unreliable, and ugly devices with big antennas pointing all over the place.

It sure looks to me like they've done a pretty good job of not leaking what their answer is to that particular gap.

You bring up a very timely point. I hadn't realized it had been over a year since the big Airport scare of 2016 . I coincidentally grabbed an airport extreme not long after the rumors of Apple getting out of the router business started tio swirl, but only because I wanted to upgrade from my old N extreme to AC. I agree with your thought process here and cannot imagine Apple ceding control of home networking to lesser competitors. We are just not privy to the master plan.

 

[Nunyabinez]

I agree that secrecy will always piss some people off, mainly those of us here, not so much mom and pop from Wisconsin. However, if I am Apple and I know letting too much slip too soon in the product cycle will cause a large number of people to not buy what I already have on store shelves, then I am likely going to be hush hush on the new model coming also. No way around it really.

You are completely right that information that delay's a purchase can be bad, but I get the sense that most Apple users wouldn't be deterred much by knowing what was coming. Especially with the incremental updates.

If I had to choose between getting a MacBook right now with X performance and knowing that there would be one in 3 months with 1.15X performance, I could decide if waiting was worth it.

Again, my sense is that a good portion of Mac buyers hang on to a piece of gear until it is borderline unusable and then buy whatever happens to be available.

I could be wrong, but it would be interesting to see what percentage of people who bought just before an update return their machines for the newer model vs. keep what they have.

 

[flyinmac]

Perhaps they should investigate Siri.

Might not be a coincidence that campus leaks have gone up during recent times compared to factory leaks.

Tim has an Apple Watch.

Tim.... try smashing all the Apple Watches and anything with Siri integration built in. See if your Campus leaks decrease.

 

[CarlJ]

Anyone wondering if maybe this was leaked... on purpose?

 

[Karma*Police]

Lets say a person leaks 100% correct information about the iPhone 8. Who are these "others" that have been affected and how? It's not like new iPhones are a secret.

Seriously? Imagine you've been slaving away on a feature for 2 years and a co-worker leaks that info to the press.

It allows competitors to get to market faster because they don't have to worry about manufacturing it at scale. Even if they don't beat Apple to the punch, it gives them time to develop a similar feature to keep pace.

The harm it does to Apple and all the people who've worked so hard on that feature is enormous. It hurts morale; it hurts sales; it hurts Apple's reputation as an innovator; it takes away from the surprise and delight of the fans; etc.

Look what happens when Apple is able to keep things under wraps like the 64 bit mobile CPU. It caught the entire industry off guard and it allowed Apple to leapfrog other vendors.

 

[Gameboy70]

Opaque iBook perhaps?

Probably the G4 Cube.

 

[iPadCary]

Y'kmow what'd be funny? If somebody joined Apple, "The Departed"-like,
just for the sole purpose of gaining confidence, trust, etc.,
answering all of their "screening" questions by telling them everything they wanna hear,
then provide a steady supply of intel to whoever: Samsung, the press, etc. lol

Plus, how many people already tell a few people everything they know,
knowing that they'll keep it amongst themselves,
lest the person that provided the info gets fired.

If I worked at Apple, and knew all the secret "Big Stuff" that was being worked on,
I wouldn't tell everyone, certainly. But my wife, kids (if they're old enough),
a few close friends? Absolutely I'd tell them what's what! lol

 

[4RUNRCLB]

Now if this isn't the definition of irony. I don't know what is.
[doublepost=1498011430][/doublepost]

Y'kmow what'd be funny? If somebody joined Apple, "The Departed"-like,
just for the sole purpose of gaining confidence, trust, etc.,
answering all of their "screening" questions by telling them everything they wanna hear,
then provide a steady supply of intel to whoever: Samsung, the press, etc. lol

Plus, how many people already tell a few people everything they know,
knowing that they'll keep it amongst themselves,
lest the person that provided the info gets fired.

If I worked at Apple, and knew all the secret "Big Stuff" that was being worked on,
I wouldn't tell everyone, certainly. But my wife, kids (if they're old enough),
a few close friends? Absolutely I'd tell them what's what! lol

I think that's called corporate espionage... Would not be surprised if they had moles in the company somewhere. And I'd be surprised if Apple didn't have them in Samsung as well.

 

[JosephAW]

That reminds me of the time when the last administration produced a document on transparency and the congressman asked who created the document and they said they were not going to release that information.

 

[B4U]

This kind of leak prevention training is in place for all large companies...Sometimes, your cube-mate does not even know what you work on.

 

[iPadCary]

I think that's called corporate espionage.

No it isn't. I'm just chatting with a small group about work, that's all.

 

[VernonDozier]

I am betting they let this leak on purpose. Why, though. That's the question.

It's a branding exercise.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Seriously? Imagine you've been slaving away on a feature for 2 years and a co-worker leaks that info to the press.

It allows competitors to get to market faster because they don't have to worry about manufacturing it at scale. Even if they don't beat Apple to the punch, iIt allows competitors to get to market faster because they don't have to worry about manufacturing it at scale

The harm it does to Apple and all the people who've worked so hard on that feature is enormous. It hurts morale; it hurts sales; it hurts Apple's reputation as an innovator; it takes away from the surprise and delight of the fans; etc.

Look what happens when Apple is able to keep things under wraps like the 64 bit mobile CPU. It caught the entire industry off guard and it allowed Apple to leapfrog other vendors.

Everything you said makes no sense. "It allows competitors to get to market faster because they don't have to worry about manufacturing it at scale" So what? does that spoil your iPhone?
"It hurts morale" oh heaven forbid we worry about hurting those poor well paid snowflakes feelings.
"it hurts sales", well last I checked Apple are doing pretty well selling iPhones.
"it hurts Apple's reputation as an innovator" Apple doesn't' claim to be an innovator, isn't their mantra "we watch where the market is going then do it better"?
"it takes away from the surprise and delight of the fans" This is really your whole problem isn't it? "oh I want to watch a September keynote and be blown away by what's being displayed in front of me, just like Steve Jobs used to do". Well those days are over. iPhone is such a huge product, manufactured on a huge scale it's impossible to keep these things under wraps.

 

[yannxou]

Not at all. Damage control. See above.

I'm not sure about the effect of this 'damage control'. To me it's like watching a movie trailer some months before its premiere. When it's finally out I may have lost that feeling 'I must watch this now' or be attracted by other movies.

I think it's better just to spread lots of different rumors or fake news and then only one becoming real.

 

[whooleytoo]

The G4 Cube?

Worked on that, but it wasn't the one I mentioned. I doubt if I'm leaking anything confidential in saying - this was an old beige Power Mac (7500 I think) so the case wasn't even particularly interesting. The CD tray had a lip on the underneath which was fine on the dev machines but caught on the CD try enclosure on production; so the tray kept on popping back out again. Easily worked around ('over'?) by lifting the tray, but it was just an obvious quality issue when it happened. It was like the Mac was sticking out its tongue at you, and when you pushed it in it'd pop right back out again.

Not testing on the final Production.. 'anything' just isn't good enough. If they need to maintain the element of surprise, then fine. Announce the product with enough lead-time to test before the actual launch.