SwimFinsSF

On Confidentialiity

I’ve got a buddy of mine who I met years ago and is a HUGE Apple fan. Big Mac guy and seems to buy at least one of nearly everything we do (I’m exaggerating but only kinda). As long as I’ve known him he’s been DYING to get the secret scoop on whats the next big thing and I have never told him anything that wasn’t already public information – and it FUCKIN KILLS HIM. Its almost sport at this point cuz every time I just shrug to one of his questions he looks like wants to smack me. Its kinda funny..

So anyway. We’re out for drinks last night with his business partner and he asks another one of his questions and I do my usual shrug to which he has his usual response and then the conversation moves on. Later, while he’s off doin whatever, his business partner asks what that was all about. I explained our little rapport and the history behind it – then explain that there is more to it than that. And here’s the scoop.

I actually believe personally in the need for Apple to keep shit confidential until launch – and its for two important reasons. First is the obvious financial reasons. The fact of the matter is we make money by selling products. We make enough product to cover demand. When new products get leaked before we’re ready to sell them people stop buying the existing products, inventory builds up, and it has a real impact on the company’s bottom line. The thing that I always tell friends is that worrying about what’s coming next is like worrying about whether the sun will rise. It always will rise and we’ll always come out with new products. Make your buying decisions based on your needs now and just deal with the fact that at some point your machine won’t be the newest and thats OK – it does what you want it to do… The only people that conceptually get hurt by buying a machine the day before a new one are the size queens who want the latest toy – and frankly, they should be buying when the previous product is announced rather than late in the cycle…

The other reason, which is actually more important to me than the financial reason, is personal. We BUST OUR BALLS trying to make great products and part of the satisfaction of doing that is the ‘Wow factor’ when the product is finally launched. It is SUCH a great feeling to work one of these shows and have people just giddy to get the product that you’ve ruined your life to deliver. When the launch is truly a surprise and has accurate information it is more gratifying than you can believe to see and read user’s responses to the product – it really makes the pain worth while. However when the fuckers at Think Secret and other rumor sites pre announce this stuff it blows a lot of that surprise. And, what is worse, is their information is 9 times out of 10 is WRONG, either completely or partially. The result is the reaction is more along the lines “Oh.. Well thats cool.. but I thought it was gonna do X.. When will it do that?”. People frequently over look all the cool things it does that the rumor sites don’t even notice and fixate on the thing that it was ‘supposed’ to do. Its really frustrating. This last MacWorld was no exception – the rumor sites spent a lot of energy hyping bad information and, as a result, many people didn’t really get how cool what we DID launch was. New Intel Macs that scream, a bunch of great new software, great financials, and others. Thats COOL – its not our fault the rumor sites fucked up.

The Engineers on my team and around Apple BUST THEIR BALLS to get great products out on the market, often sacrificing sleep, a personal life, and their health. These folks deserve their day in spotlight without it being tainted by misconceptions by rumor mongers. So just sit tight – we’ll continue to announce cool stuff.

(sorry – that was more soap-box-ey than I intended… I just feel strongly about it after 14 some years at apple.)

Happy Friday

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