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How Apple Does Controlled Leaks

116 points by prat 17y ago

cmgarcia 17y ago
This article shouldn't be surprising to anyone with their ear to the ground for Apple news, but it certainly was nice to read from the former Senior Marketing Manager for Apple.
- andrew1 17y ago
  A small slightly pedantic point, but that should be 'a Senior Marketing Manager' rather than 'the Senior Marketing Manager'. The Senior Marketing Manager is, I imagine, a very important person. A Senior Marketing Manager is, well, a manager in the marketing department who is in some sense 'Senior'.
  - blantonl 17y ago
    sigh... small pedantic point?
- izg 17y ago
  Yup. Doesn't surprise me at all. I always suspected this. Controlled leaks (and fake rumors?) achieve the following, also: - builds suspense, makes fanboys drool in anticipation - the media of course rides these waves because rumors are exciting, hopefully novel... this ensures that Apple is in the news daily (it gets tiresome for those of us who care about truly, actionable news) and thus boosts their brand recognition - a secret/something hard to obtain is more desirable - engineers/designers get early feedback
pohl 17y ago
What's more interesting to me is how they avoid unintended leaks. I've been told of a keycard system that knows if two different people are working on different components of a product, and won't let them into a particular room with each other at the same time, lest they put 2 and 2 together...like, for example, if one person is working on a touch screen and another is working with cell phone transmitters.
- RyanMcGreal 17y ago
  Reminds me of the old analogy of the blind men and the elephant.
- prat 17y ago
  That's a very strange/sad way of working. At work, I have always known the end product toward which I am building. I can't imagine working with so many firewalls.
  - RyanMcGreal 17y ago
    OTOH given Apple's track record, employees can probably just tell themselves, "Whatever I'm working on, someone smarter than me is overseeing it. I'm sure it will be awesome." That's got to be more encouraging than knowing exactly what you're working on and despairing as a result.
    - algorias 17y ago
      If being treated like a child works for you, that's great. It doesn't for me. If those rumours are true, Apple must be an incredibly stifling and frustrating place to work for smart, creative people.
      - RyanMcGreal 17y ago
        I agree with you. I'm just saying it could be worse. Presumably people who work at Apple are skilled enough to have lots of options and stay because they're happy with the way the company is run.
      - Estragon 17y ago
        Apple must be an incredibly stifling and frustrating place to work for smart, creative people. I agree. And yet, they keep producing all this innovative stuff. It's a paradox, to me.
      - jsz0 17y ago
        I would bet then either the rumors are not true or it's more nuanced than we know. Apple seems to produce good software quickly. How would that be possible with a company full of miserable developers? We don't hear much, or anything, about big employee churn rates at Apple either.
wallflower 17y ago
For those who missed it (I was wondering why people were now saying March): "Apple to Ship Tablet Device in March" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580904574638630584151614.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870358090457463...
- jcnnghm 17y ago
  It's behind a subscription wall. Do you know what the suggested pricepoint is?
  - thaumaturgy 17y ago
    Apple's putting its toes in the water with a $1,000 price tag.
    - jcnnghm 17y ago
      Ouch... That's about $400 more than I'd probably be willing to pay for a decent tablet. I wonder what kind of use-cases they're envisioning.
      - SwellJoe 17y ago
        That's about $400 more You could also view it as a ~$100 discount on the Mac OS X tax, if it's only $400 more than equivalent Windows or Linux tablets. Apple laptops tend to be about $500 more than similarly equipped laptops from other manufacturers (my last Dell was $626 cheaper than an almost identically equipped MacBook Pro). Of course, I don't know what Windows and Linux-based tablets are actually going to cost, so the Mac OS X tax may be more or less on tablets. I guess we'll see when the tablets start hitting the market in reasonable numbers. I'm not entirely sure I see the use case for a tablet at any price...though I have a netbook, and like it, and have a Kindle, and like it (but the insane battery life is a primary factor for the Kindle; a tablet won't be able to come close). So, I may figure out uses for a tablet when they're more common.
        17y ago

116 points by prat 17y ago

This article shouldn't be surprising to anyone with their ear to the ground for Apple news, but it certainly was nice to read from the former Senior Marketing Manager for Apple.

andrew1 17y ago
A small slightly pedantic point, but that should be 'a Senior Marketing Manager' rather than 'the Senior Marketing Manager'. The Senior Marketing Manager is, I imagine, a very important person. A Senior Marketing Manager is, well, a manager in the marketing department who is in some sense 'Senior'.
- blantonl 17y ago
  sigh... small pedantic point?
izg 17y ago
Yup. Doesn't surprise me at all. I always suspected this. Controlled leaks (and fake rumors?) achieve the following, also: - builds suspense, makes fanboys drool in anticipation - the media of course rides these waves because rumors are exciting, hopefully novel... this ensures that Apple is in the news daily (it gets tiresome for those of us who care about truly, actionable news) and thus boosts their brand recognition - a secret/something hard to obtain is more desirable - engineers/designers get early feedback

pohl 17y ago

What's more interesting to me is how they avoid unintended leaks. I've been told of a keycard system that knows if two different people are working on different components of a product, and won't let them into a particular room with each other at the same time, lest they put 2 and 2 together...like, for example, if one person is working on a touch screen and another is working with cell phone transmitters.

RyanMcGreal 17y ago
Reminds me of the old analogy of the blind men and the elephant.
prat 17y ago
That's a very strange/sad way of working. At work, I have always known the end product toward which I am building. I can't imagine working with so many firewalls.
- RyanMcGreal 17y ago
  OTOH given Apple's track record, employees can probably just tell themselves, "Whatever I'm working on, someone smarter than me is overseeing it. I'm sure it will be awesome." That's got to be more encouraging than knowing exactly what you're working on and despairing as a result.
  - algorias 17y ago
    If being treated like a child works for you, that's great. It doesn't for me. If those rumours are true, Apple must be an incredibly stifling and frustrating place to work for smart, creative people.
    - RyanMcGreal 17y ago
      I agree with you. I'm just saying it could be worse. Presumably people who work at Apple are skilled enough to have lots of options and stay because they're happy with the way the company is run.
    - Estragon 17y ago
      Apple must be an incredibly stifling and frustrating place to work for smart, creative people. I agree. And yet, they keep producing all this innovative stuff. It's a paradox, to me.
    - jsz0 17y ago
      I would bet then either the rumors are not true or it's more nuanced than we know. Apple seems to produce good software quickly. How would that be possible with a company full of miserable developers? We don't hear much, or anything, about big employee churn rates at Apple either.

wallflower 17y ago

For those who missed it (I was wondering why people were now saying March): "Apple to Ship Tablet Device in March" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580904574638630584151614.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870358090457463...

jcnnghm 17y ago
It's behind a subscription wall. Do you know what the suggested pricepoint is?
- thaumaturgy 17y ago
  Apple's putting its toes in the water with a $1,000 price tag.
  - jcnnghm 17y ago
    Ouch... That's about $400 more than I'd probably be willing to pay for a decent tablet. I wonder what kind of use-cases they're envisioning.
    - SwellJoe 17y ago
      That's about $400 more You could also view it as a ~$100 discount on the Mac OS X tax, if it's only $400 more than equivalent Windows or Linux tablets. Apple laptops tend to be about $500 more than similarly equipped laptops from other manufacturers (my last Dell was $626 cheaper than an almost identically equipped MacBook Pro). Of course, I don't know what Windows and Linux-based tablets are actually going to cost, so the Mac OS X tax may be more or less on tablets. I guess we'll see when the tablets start hitting the market in reasonable numbers. I'm not entirely sure I see the use case for a tablet at any price...though I have a netbook, and like it, and have a Kindle, and like it (but the insane battery life is a primary factor for the Kindle; a tablet won't be able to come close). So, I may figure out uses for a tablet when they're more common.
      - 17y ago