# How does Apple Computer keep product development a secret? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634 "2017-06-22T20:16:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/1 "2017-06-22T20:16:46Z")
I’ve worked at companies where people sign a non-disclosure. So on the surface that seems this is likely what Apple Computer does to prevent leaks of product development. But I was thinking of the actual logistics of this considering all the suppliers they must talk with, get price estimates and place orders for the factory before the public knows about the product. With the factories that build the parts and the final product, there must be a huge number of people involved. It is surprising how they are able to keep all of this a secret until Apple is ready to make an announcement. I was asking people who work in the Apple Store and apparently they aren’t even aware of exactly what is going to be announced for sale until very late. Meanwhile, there are Apple rumor websites who continue to post click-bait and when a product is going to be upgraded and at least with the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro, they have been wrong for years. Anyone know someone who works at Apple Computer and is involved with keeping things secret? Is this a difficult environment to work in where you can’t bring work home I’m thinking, or you can’t discuss things over lunch outside of work. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/2 "2017-06-22T21:07:24Z")
NDAs work only to the extent that penalties are exacted for violating them. The greater and surer the threat of punishment, the better people get at keeping secrets. I’m sure that letting loose an Apple secret is instant doom for anyone who ever wants to work again in the industry. There may be monetary damage as well. You police yourself in those circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/3 "2017-06-22T22:08:50Z")
I work for a company that tries to keep future product plans very secret. We require NDAs from our partners and beta testers. We’ve occasionally had beta testers violate NDAs (which led to a much tighter vetting of beta testers), but we’ve never had another company violate an NDA. Why would they risk losing our business just for the sake of revealing a secret, doing which does not benefit them in any way? Also, for a company like Apple, even if some future plan were revealed by someone with inside information, it’s just one voice in a thousand others, all of whom claim to know about Apple’s secret plans. No one pays any attention and therefore it doesn’t really harm Apple. ---
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/4 "2017-06-23T11:00:10Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I work for a company that tries to keep future product plans very secret. We require NDAs from our partners and beta testers. We’ve occasionally had beta testers violate NDAs (which led to a much tighter vetting of beta testers), but we’ve never had another company violate an NDA. Why would they risk losing our business just for the sake of revealing a secret, doing which does not benefit them in any way? Also, for a company like Apple, even if some future plan were revealed by someone with inside information, it’s just one voice in a thousand others, all of whom claim to know about Apple’s secret plans. No one pays any attention and therefore it doesn’t really harm Apple. How closely protected is the information? For example, do interns working there have access to the secret information? Do people not leave papers open on their desks and stuff on their whiteboards is covered when not in use? I know the company, such as the sub-contractor has a reason not to reveal anything. But there are individual employees involved which could leak things without it being traced back to them. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/5 "2017-06-23T14:53:57Z")
Ordinary companies have clean desk policies these days. Some rooms are barred to everybody except select staff. All companies are paranoid about everything. It’s not hard to imagine stricter rules being strictly enforced. Does it work? You answered that in your OP. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/6 "2017-06-23T15:31:11Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Ordinary companies have clean desk policies these days. Some rooms are barred to everybody except select staff. All companies are paranoid about everything. It’s not hard to imagine stricter rules being strictly enforced. Does it work? You answered that in your OP. I know people who work at Apple. Good friends. They are paranoid about revealing anything about their job when they are in social situations. I don’t know any but the most vaguest things about what they do. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/7 "2017-06-23T15:45:53Z")
Well, the answer is they don’t really. Usually by the time the products are announced, the rumor mills have already generated a fairly accurate description, maybe with a few lacunae or incorrect details. You do have to weed out the wheat from the chaff, though, because there are usually some details that the pundits get wrong (usually they err by wishful thinking, assuming that Apple will actually include some cool new feature that actually shows up two or three model years later). ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/8 "2017-06-23T15:45:59Z")
Someone, somewhere, is going to leak plans/information if there is money on the line. ---
**Author:** ![miketx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@miketx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miketx)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/9 "2017-06-23T16:11:44Z")
They dont hire liberals. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/10 "2017-06-23T16:41:09Z")
We share a building with Microsoft and have all the clean desk and ‘Loose lips sink ships’ policies in effect. The thing is, nobody cares that much what we are doing, we share a lot of details with our customers who are free to blab, and it’s the Microsoft guys who are talking about their stuff on the elevators and out and around the building. There aren’t that many secrets companies need to keep in double secret probation status. If they’ve got a teleporter or fusion energy project in development it’s going to be found out, too hard to hide such things, just like countries developing nuclear weapons. For a place like Apple it’s the occasional leak that builds the anticipation of their new products that they want, not a complete dome of silence over the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/11 "2017-06-23T17:06:49Z")
Perhaps this is obvious, but in general the point of keeping company secrets is not to prevent the general public from knowing what’s coming, it’s to prevent your competitors from knowing what’s coming. If company A is working on a super-cool new feature, and their competitor company B finds out about it a year before A releases it, that gives B a whole year to work on their own version of the feature, or some other feature or marketing plan to make A’s feature look lame when it’s released. ---
**Author:** ![miketx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@miketx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miketx)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/12 "2017-06-23T17:31:09Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > We share a building with Microsoft and have all the clean desk and ‘Loose lips sink ships’ policies in effect. The thing is, nobody cares that much what we are doing, we share a lot of details with our customers who are free to blab, and it’s the Microsoft guys who are talking about their stuff on the elevators and out and around the building. > > There aren’t that many secrets companies need to keep in double secret probation status. If they’ve got a teleporter or fusion energy project in development it’s going to be found out, too hard to hide such things, just like countries developing nuclear weapons. For a place like Apple it’s the occasional leak that builds the anticipation of their new products that they want, not a complete dome of silence over the whole thing. The Manhattan Project. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/13 "2017-06-23T17:34:43Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@miketx](#): > > They dont hire liberals. Keep the political jabs out of GQ, please. ---
**Author:** ![miketx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@miketx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miketx)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/14 "2017-06-23T17:41:50Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > **Moderator Note** > > Keep the political jabs out of GQ, please. Facts are facts man. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/15 "2017-06-23T17:43:04Z")
> [@miketx](#): > > They dont hire liberals. I understand that this is just a cheap shot, but it’s pretty stupid on the face of it, when you consider that Apple is one of the most liberal companies on Earth, having a gay CEO promoting typical liberal causes. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/16 "2017-06-23T17:46:17Z")
> [@miketx](#): > > Facts are facts man. [Consevapedia](http://www.conservapedia.com/Apple_Inc.#cite_note-1) says Apple is a liberal company. [spoiler] Who knew Conservapedia was good for something? :D[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/17 "2017-06-23T17:48:42Z")
> [@miketx](#): > > Facts are facts man. That must be one of those “alternative facts” I’ve been hearing about. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/18 "2017-06-23T18:59:02Z")
> [@miketx](#): > > Facts are facts man. I personally know quite a few liberals who work at Apple. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/19 "2017-06-23T19:06:30Z")
**Moderator Action** > [@miketx](#): > > Facts are facts man. That gets you an official warning for politics in GQ. Do not do this again. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634/20 "2017-06-23T20:06:30Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I personally know quite a few liberals who work at Apple. I’m married to one who works there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-apple-computer-keep-product-development-a-secret/789634.md?page=2)