BRAD STONE and ASHLEE VANCE have a nice article at the NYTimes about Apple's "baked in" culture of secrecy and disinformation. It mostly comes down to marketing.
I think it also comes down to ego. Steve Jobs likes to make a bigger splash than Namu the killer whale in a small pond. He wants people to adore him. He doesn't just release products, he unveils them with a flair for the megamaniacal. People must not just lust after his products, they must be rabid about them. It guarantees that people flock to his product releases, both for the products themselves and for a chance to hear the great man speak.
Jobs wants to be bigger than life. I guess it feeds some deep-seated insecurity.
Even Apple employees don't know about new products until they're released.
There has been debate over whether he should be allowed to keep secrect his cancer and recent liver transplant. I can sympathize with his desire to keep such personal issues secret. But one has to wonder about the danger of such a public figure keeping such secrets. There's always the possibility of insider trading by the few people who know what's going on.
Google has a similar culture of secrecy, but it seems to me it comes more from a touch of paranoia. Larry and Sergey rarely give interviews, but they're also shy. They also seem afraid that others will steal their ideas. For my book, I had access to just about anybody at Google I wanted except Larry and Sergey.
Jeff Bezos at Amazon also likes to closely control his own publicity. He'll appear anywhere to promote his Kindle, but try asking him for an interview about the company in general. I can't get an interview with anybody at Amazon, period.
The problem is that it puts them all in danger of misinformation. If a reporter is trying to write an accurate story, closed-mouth secrecy ensures that is extraordinarily difficult to achieve.
But then, I'm a reporter. I believe in full disclosure. It's a big part of what the Internet is all about. Sigh. What's a reporter to do? Work harder and pray you get it right.
And with that, I'd better get back to work.
