Apple acknowledges IT issues

Apple has admitted that corporate IT employees complain about its secretive product roadmap, and warned that the only way to stay ahead is to attend its annual developer conference. "People always complain that Apple doesn't give systems administrators or systems architects enough of a roadmap of where our technologies are going," Craig Bradley said, head of Apple's Asia-Pacific developer relations. The official Apple line was backed by David Colville, technology director for Key Options Technology, an Australian systems integrator focused specifically on Mac OS X, according to a report from ZDNet Australia.

"Our target markets are corporate, they want to be able to plan two years ahead, sometimes three years ahead," Colville said.

Attending Apple's annual developer conference provides a clear roadmap of the company's software development plans up to 18 months ahead, according to Colville and Bradley.

"This is where we do speak about these technologies," Bradley said. "We'll be setting the foundations for our next operating system, which is going to take us through the next couple of years."

Internal engineers from Apple also attend the conference to demonstrate technology and solve problems. Atendees pay $1,600 for the five-day event, and are required to sign non-disclosure provisions.

Bradley confirmed that Apple will demonstrate the new version of Mac OS X, codenamed Leopard, at the conference in August.

Filed under: Apple