Question about Product leaks...

[coldwarx]

I was just wondering.. since Apple uses technology from companies like Samsung and LG, etc.. for screens and flash memory, wouldn't these competitors know what the end design of a product would look like? i.e, Wouldn't Samsung know what the iPhone5 will look like about now?

So.. when I read articles about Apple denying Samsung's lawyers access to future technology, isn't it pointless ...?


And how are all these supposed parts appearing all over the world, and no one has 1 photo of this device in full?

 

[jonrando]

Not necessarily. They are only producing things like the screen, camera, etc. Foxconn puts it all together and manufactures the product. I'm sure there are numerous picture of the device out there, it's just that the images are kept very secret and under wraps by Apple and their manufacturer(s), meaning they aren't easily obtainable by outsiders.

 

[kdarling]

Samsung and/or LG would know about the LCD resolution and also perhaps memory size, since they supply those parts.

They wouldn't know what the case looked like.

Apple thrives on secrecy. Even Apple software engineers have to do their thing using plain boxes with the correct circuits, and Apple hardware engineers might be using only test software.

It's actually amazing that products work as well as they do, coming out of a organization like that.

 

[vitzr]

Not necessarily. They are only producing things like the screen, camera, etc. Foxconn puts it all together and manufactures the product. I'm sure there are numerous picture of the device out there, it's just that the images are kept very secret and under wraps by Apple and their manufacturer(s), meaning they aren't easily obtainable by outsiders.

Unless they hang out in bars like Apple employees do

 

[Apple OC]

I was just wondering.. since Apple uses technology from companies like Samsung and LG, etc.. for screens and flash memory, wouldn't these competitors know what the end design of a product would look like? i.e, Wouldn't Samsung know what the iPhone5 will look like about now?

So.. when I read articles about Apple denying Samsung's lawyers access to future technology, isn't it pointless ...?


And how are all these supposed parts appearing all over the world, and no one has 1 photo of this device in full?

Non Disclosure Agreements from a company with 75 Billion dollars ... and Wolves as Lawyers

 

[jonrando]

Non Disclosure Agreements from a company with 75 Billion dollars ... and Wolves as Lawyers

Vicious, wild wolves.

 

[AIP5]

Even Apple software engineers have to do their thing using plain boxes with the correct circuits, and Apple hardware engineers might be using only test software.

I've always wondered this. Is it really true that the software engineers are kept separate from the hardware engineers? I just can't comprehend this if it applies to the first iPhone. Being as revolutionary as it was, I can't see how the software engineers would have gotten to the same results as the hardware engineers would have.

The only way I see a mild possibility is if the software is designed first the way software engineers want it, and then passed on to the hardware engineers so they can build hardware around the software. That seems slightly plausible. But the notion of the two departments being in the dark of each other just seems to contradict everything Apple: the tight integration of hardware and software...

 

[Geckotek]

I was just wondering.. since Apple uses technology from companies like Samsung and LG, etc.. for screens and flash memory, wouldn't these competitors know what the end design of a product would look like? i.e, Wouldn't Samsung know what the iPhone5 will look like about now?

So.. when I read articles about Apple denying Samsung's lawyers access to future technology, isn't it pointless ...?


And how are all these supposed parts appearing all over the world, and no one has 1 photo of this device in full?

If I sell you some pepperoni and cheese, can I be sure that you are making a pizza and exactly what that pizza will look like and what toppings it will have?

nope

 

[saving107]

I've always wondered this. Is it really true that the software engineers are kept separate from the hardware engineers?

These images may not be exactly what goes on inside Apple, but I think they are a good indication.

Software engineers get units to work with, but are unable to see what the design will look like

Hardware Engineers get a device to work with, but are unable to see what the Software will look like

 

[kdarling]

I've always wondered this. Is it really true that the software engineers are kept separate from the hardware engineers?

This is supposedly true of many of Apple's projects. For the iPhone, it also extended to their first customer:

"Cingular sent a team of technical personnel to Apple's offices to test the device, making it sure it would work on the carrier's network. That rigorous process is normal for the release of any phone. But this time, technicians weren't allowed to handle or see the actual phone. Instead, they were given access to a dummy version that would only allow them to do the necessary network tests." - WSJ, Feb 2007

"In some cases, Apple crafted bogus handset prototypes to show not just to Cingular executives, but also to Apple's own workers. - CNN Jan 2007"

I just can't comprehend this if it applies to the first iPhone. Being as revolutionary as it was, I can't see how the software engineers would have gotten to the same results as the hardware engineers would have.

The software guys wouldn't need to hold the actual device. Many internal coders wouldn't even need to see the touchscreen; only the UI workers would.

Likewise, the hardware engineers didn't need to see any software at all, really. Just boot and test code that perhaps they themselves wrote.

Only a tiny handful of people would've (and did) see the entire device in one piece before Jobs showed it off in public.

... the notion of the two departments being in the dark of each other just seems to contradict everything Apple: the tight integration of hardware and software...

Apple's "tight integration" is about as valid as Android's "open OS". There's just some truth to each.

 

[vitzr]

No ones perfect.