Leaked Apple Memo Warns Employees About Leaking Info to Media

[pankajdoharey]

Well these leaks are the life blood of Mac-rumors forum.
And a more funny thing is that this memo warning employees has leaked
to us too!! Huh ?

Though on a serious note i too would want to see products when they are announced in Apple Events
instead of knowing about them months or even yrs in advance. I really like unveiling of the products for the first time. And getting all our guesses incorrect/shattered.

 

[windzerg]

It's not avoidable when a consumer-facing star company has grown to this size...

 

[Millah]

I’ve given up on the intelligence and rationality of the Macrumors community.

Mock Tim Cook when he said “double down on leaks.” And then react negatively to initiatives like this, where Apple shows how serious they were about that.

Make your minds up. Seems more to me like you’re all the anti Tim Cook brigade, for no logical reason other than him not having the name “Steve Jobs.”

I’m sure you can justify dozens of reasons why you dislike Tim Cook. And I could probably counter each one with an example from Steve’s Apple. Apple has never been perfect. You were just more forgiving because Apples products were more novel at the time. Market disruptions don’t present themselves every day, especially when you’re a market leader like Apple is today. I don’t think many appreciate how much guts it takes to continue to try to disrupt markets when you have a user base of 1 billion to also need to satisfy.

 

[TMRJIJ]

Whoever leaked this is the real MVP

 

[pankajdoharey]

I’ve given up on the intelligence and rationality of the Macrumors community.

Mock Tim Cook when he said “double down on leaks.” And then react negatively to initiatives like this, where Apple shows how serious they were about that.

Make your minds up. Seems more to me like you’re all the anti Tim Cook brigade, for no logical reason other than him not having the name “Steve Jobs.”

I’m sure you can justify dozens of reasons why you dislike Tim Cook. And I could probably counter each one with an example from Steve’s Apple. Apple has never been perfect. You were just more forgiving because Apples products were more novel at the time. Market disruptions don’t present themselves every day, especially when you’re a market leader like Apple is today. I don’t think many appreciate how much guts it takes to continue to try to disrupt markets when you have a user base of 1 billion to also need to satisfy.

For starters not all are Anti Cook, i seem to like Apple in the era of Tim more than Steve. We never had such a strong a large product line under Steve. Every few yrs Steve would retire some products. Tim has actually increased the number of products. Plus the empathy of customers he has bring up is very nice too. Though the software does seem to suffer more under Tim, but it is because of such a diverse product line, that the task of writing good software has become tedious.

 

[techpr]

Stop the leaks with leaks.

 

[dmbaggie]

 

[Bustycat]

A few weeks later:

Leaked Apple Memo Warns Employees About Leaking Memo About Apple Warning Employees About Leaking Info to Media to Media

 

[Populus]

A leak about leaking information? Leakception.

 

[manu chao]

I understand wanting to keep as far ahead of competitors as possible, but it seems like Apple is more concerned about suppressing negative perceptions rather than protecting the secrecy of genuinely revolutionary new products.

When you are fighting leaks, what is the difference?

If there is a difference, it is not in what is the motivation for fighting leaks but how do you motivate your employees not to leak.

 

[AppleMad98004]

Cell mate.... "What are you in for?" "

"Me, I told a reporter there is a new color option coming soon for iPhone", said ex-Apple employee.....

 

[m4mario]

Mac Rumors decided to have some fun with the title.

 

[jazz1]

Apple recently posted a "lengthy" cautionary memo on its internal website that uses aggressive scare tactics to warn employees against leaking details about future products to the media, reports Bloomberg.

In 2017, Apple said it caught 29 leakers and that 12 of those people were arrested. "These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere," the company said in the memo.

Images of iPhone X components that leaked well ahead of the device's launch​

The memo details several instances where sensitive data had been leaked to the media, such as the leaked iOS 11 GM, which divulged details on the iPhone X, and meetings where Craig Federighi detailed delays to planned functionality in iOS 12 to focus on improving existing features. The employees who leaked this info were caught and fired, said Apple.

It also warns Apple employees against befriending members of the press, analysts, and bloggers and "getting played."

Apple told employees that leaking information about an unreleased product can impact sales of current models, lead to fewer sales when the product is released, and give competitors more time to mimic product features. "We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else," Apple's Greg Joswiak said in the memo, the full text of which is below, courtesy of Bloomberg:Apple has always been an intensely private and secretive company, but as it has grown, leaks have become harder to contain, both among its own corporate employees and from its supplier partners. In 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was going to "double down on secrecy on products," but each and every year, details on new products manage to leak out ahead of launch.

Article Link: Leaked Apple Memo Warns Employees About Leaking Info to Media

[doublepost=1523648136][/doublepost]This "leak" story doesn't hold water

 

[madKIR]

"Tim Cook said Apple was going to "double down on secrecy on products""
Apple needs to double down on their QA on every single level instead. The quality of their products has recently turned into a joke! They spread their resources elsewhere instead.

 

[HappyDamnSam]

Lol the leak got leaked. Apple can't keep anything a secret anymore. Tim Cook is failing them just like the homepod sales

 

[turbineseaplane]

Can we get a "leak" about a Magic Keyboard in the new MacBook Pro's?

Please!?

 

[Cesar Battistini]

If you know that Apple is going to release a new iPhone in 6 months, will you possibly buy a competing phone that releases before the new iPhone comes out? I am sorry, but this is an ancient way of thinking for an industry leading company. To add to the irony, Apple has been last on everything except for in the category of unneeded and unwanted, like a freaking Touch Bar on a laptop and not a touchscreen.

People learned about facial recognition before the X was released, the general public and the media said they where chasing after Samsung, people don't understand how a feature works and will start assuming things based on leaks, that are almost always erroneous.

And stop with the touchscreen macs! It DOESNT work. I have two family members who have windows computers with a touch display, and they only use it for scrolling pages (witch is far from smooth). And the only reason is that their trackpad sucks major balls.

 

[4509968]

It’s always amusing when someone at Apple leaks an internal document about not leaking.

"always"? Isnt this the first such memo about leaking to be leaked? Or do you have access to more such leaks that the public doesnt?

 

[spicymeatballs12]

whats there to leak? Just take a look at an innovative company like Google, Samsung, or Amazon and you will have Apple’s product roadmap for the next 5 years

 

[santydolby]

The irony of this leak

what a meta moment!

 

[dehildum]

Apple recently posted a "lengthy" cautionary memo on its internal website that uses aggressive scare tactics to warn employees against leaking details about future products to the media, reports Bloomberg.

In 2017, Apple said it caught 29 leakers and that 12 of those people were arrested. "These people not only lose their jobs, they can face extreme difficulty finding employment elsewhere," the company said in the memo.

Images of iPhone X components that leaked well ahead of the device's launch​

The memo details several instances where sensitive data had been leaked to the media, such as the leaked iOS 11 GM, which divulged details on the iPhone X, and meetings where Craig Federighi detailed delays to planned functionality in iOS 12 to focus on improving existing features. The employees who leaked this info were caught and fired, said Apple.

It also warns Apple employees against befriending members of the press, analysts, and bloggers and "getting played."

Apple told employees that leaking information about an unreleased product can impact sales of current models, lead to fewer sales when the product is released, and give competitors more time to mimic product features. "We want the chance to tell our customers why the product is great, and not have that done poorly by someone else," Apple's Greg Joswiak said in the memo, the full text of which is below, courtesy of Bloomberg:Apple has always been an intensely private and secretive company, but as it has grown, leaks have become harder to contain, both among its own corporate employees and from its supplier partners. In 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple was going to "double down on secrecy on products," but each and every year, details on new products manage to leak out ahead of launch.

Article Link: Leaked Apple Memo Warns Employees About Leaking Info to Media

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

I must say that I do miss the days of blurry cell phone photos of Apple products in elevators just days or hours before keynotes.

And, if I recall correctly, AirPods were a surprise when they were announced. Is that right? I don't recall any leaks about them.

 

[Doomtomb]

Good! As it should be and they should be locked up also.

I don't agree in every case.... at all.
[doublepost=1523649307][/doublepost]

Telling the public why the products are great is much different from spinning why the products need to be thought of as great. The iPhone 4 leak may have taken the "wow factor" away from Steve Jobs' keynote debut, but I don't think it had any kind of harmful effect on perception or sales of one of the greatest devices ever to come out of Cupertino.

On the other hand, revealing Animoji as the prime feature of the iPhone X with iOS 11 gave enough of a head start for the public to realize it was a letdown and collectively ask "is that it?" even before the reveal.

I understand wanting to keep as far ahead of competitors as possible, but it seems like Apple is more concerned about suppressing negative perceptions rather than protecting the secrecy of genuinely revolutionary new products.

The solution to the let downs is they need to release better products more often. I don't need to go in to detail about how evident it is Cupertino has lost some of its magic.

 

[macjunk(ie)]

This is sad on so many levels!
1) What if an innocent developer is caught in the crossfire? He is going to be fired and will find it difficult to gain employment elsewhere. If I am evil, I could also frame someone cause I suspect he stole my lunch. 'Swatting'
so to speak.

2) Why develop software like this? Make a mess of everything for years and then spend 1 measly year trying to fix that mess. Devs who created the mess might be long gone and even if they are there, they might have forgotten the nooks and crannies the mess existed. It looks like the management forced the programmers to abandon the Boy Scout rule

These events just point to a poisonous culture within the company. Maybe it always existed and it is now we are seeing this. S*it always floats to the surface!

But there is a silver lining to all this....maybe...just maybe....we can all confidently update to iOS12!

 

[dwaltwhit]

Serious question:

Does Macrumors pay sources?