A message-warning received by company employees via email details how far Apple can go to stop any leaks of information about its upcoming products.
This is an ongoing problem. Before the release of the iPhone X, 2017, you may remember, a leak from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg. And while it was probably one of the biggest leaks, it certainly was not the only one. The company discovered last year that 29 employees were leaking information, and all of them were fired. 12 from them was arrested.
But it seems that not only the elders received the message mentioned above: Bloomberg probably managed to convince an employee of the company to leaked to the press…
Last month, Apple arrested and sacked an employee who was responsible for data leakage from an intimate, confidential meeting about the Apple software roadmap. Hundreds of software engineers were present and thousands were the ones who received more details about their work. A person betrayed their trust.
An employee who leaked what happened at the meeting to a reporter later told Apple investigators that he did it because he thought it would not be discovered. But people who leak information - whether they are Apple employees or suppliers - are caught and caught faster than ever.
In many cases, they do not want to leak information. But the people who work for Apple are often the target of journalists, analysts and bloggers and are visited on professional and social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. While it may seem flattering, it's important to remember what's at stake. The success of these third parties is measured by your obtaining Apple's secrets and making them public. A leak about an unreleased Apple product can generate massive traffic from a publication and financially benefit the blogger or journalist who managed to obtain the information. But the Apple employee who leaked it will lose.
The leak of Apple work undermines everyone at Apple and the years they have invested in creating the company's products. "Thousands of people have been working tirelessly for months to deliver every major software release," said Josh Shaffer, whose team was part of the iOS 11 leak last fall. "Every leak is catastrophic for all of us."
The impact of a leak goes beyond the people working on a particular project and is felt throughout the company. Leaking information about a new product can negatively affect sales of the model. It may give rival companies more time to launch a competitive solution, and will lead to fewer sales of the new product during its release.
The note is large and all of the above is just an excerpt. He goes on to say that the leaks have "serious consequences" and that the journalists do not really want to be friends with the staff technicians but only to leak the information they know.
Το σημείωμα-προnotice ends:
Although they have serious consequences, leaks are not completely avoided. It is the result of the decision of someone who has not considered the impact of his actions. "Everyone comes to Apple to do the best project of their lives - a job that matters and contributes to what all of the company's staff, 135.000 people, do together," says Joswiak.
"The best way to honor these contributions is not to leak information."
