06/13/2008, 9:15pm, EDT
Friday, June 13th
Apple event security paranoia: bathroom escorts
Apple's notorious secrecy when dealing with unreleased product is especially prevalent at conferences as journalists and the like are ferried around by Apple PR reps to avoid early leaks, heavily contrasting the easy-going image of actor Justin Long in the famous "Get a Mac" commercials. Computerworld writer Matt Hamblen had a need at WWDC to repeatedly use the washroom, each time he was escorted by a friendly, but stern Apple representative.
"On this second trip, I was warned in friendly fashion to be quiet as I walked the 50 yards down the hallway, since Apple officials such as Steve Jobs were interviewing various press and analysts behind curtains," Hamblen recalls, musing over the reactions of the official.
Upon returning to the designated press area, others related stories of Apple's strict behavior concerning secrecy, with one writer claiming he felt as if he were a convict on a home suspension when attending an event at Apple's Cupertino campus.
In addition, Hamblen was expressly denied photographs of the new iPhone, despite being allowed to see and hold the device, while a notice posted in the lobby warned reporters that information obtained at the WWDC is strictly not for circulation
Filed under: industry, security, Apple
Other story tags: WWDC, Get A Mac
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Marketing
Apple's secrecy is part of their marketing strategy. Without the product unveilings they become Gateway. Stop complaining about it.
Steve Jobs = Kim Jong Il?
Sounds like the way North Korea does things, and their politics probably aren't too different either.
Apple start your copiers.
North Korea's secrecy is part of it's marketing strategy. With it. it would just be South Korea. Stop complaining about it.
Apple, start your engines
North Korea's secrecy is part of its marketing strategy. Without it, it would just be South Korea. Stop complaining about it.
(Can I complain about MacNN's new posting system though?)
Re: marketing
Man, you're right. Because without the secrecy, everyone would already know everything there was to know about the iPhone before WWDC, and there wouldn't be any surprises.
Oh, wait, there weren't any surprises, was there? The telecoms all were boasting weeks beforehand about distributing the phones. Everyone had already heard about the price cuts. The features were, if anything, less then hoped/expected (man, if only they could figure out how to do system-wide search. Maybe they should get Google to make GoogleDesktop for iPhone).
In fact, the only thing secrecy gives us is that bit of doubt about what will be there.
BTW, in case you didn't notice, apple announced the iPhone 6 months before its release. Then everyone knew it was going to be replaced with a 3G model this year. It didn't hurt sales (in fact, as many point out, the thing that hurt sales most was apple not producing enough ipods). People who wanted 3G weren't going to buy the original anyway. So, all in all, secrecy does nothing for Apple except keep the rumor-mills in business.
secrecy
Oh, and if Apple really wants to make any inroads into business, they're going to have to lose some of that secrecy crap. Businesses don't like being surprised with decisions like "Hey, we're cutting PPC support at 10.6, hope you didn't have a large investment in G5 towers and xserves" or "Hey, we're canncelling the xRAID. Please change your IT budgets and purchase plans accordingly."
Oh, right, that second one would never happen, as it would actually require Apple to make a public statement about cancelling the product, which they never did. And Apple doesn't want to get any of that IT budget money, anyway. Because then they'd actually have large customers they'd have to listen to, and might not just flippantly decide to blow off backward compatibility because they can't afford it (I guess all those profits are going to fuel Steve's plane or something).
Torture the Press
You are extremely lucky that you are not sitting in Apple's underground cells at One Infinite Loop. I doubt Steve's wifi works down there.
Future
Well, by the time 10.6 is out and qualified for IT use, those G5 servers will be about 4.5 years old, at the youngest. I would imagine it'd probably be time for an upgrade anyway. It's not like Apple announced the intel switch and then dropped PPC support the six months later.
As for software compatibility, that the OS will be backward compatible with 10-15 year old software creates enormous programming issues and limits progress, just ask MS how that's going.
Ahem....
I'm quite certain Justin Long plays a Mac not "Apple". I guess he could say "Hi, I'm a Mac, and my mother is a control freak" but then, who wants to hear about his mother!!
Oh... and...
Has anyone else noticed the irony is being escorted to the bathroom to "avoid early leaks"?