Apple's Obsession With Secrecy Grows Stronger 305
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times has a story on the culture of secrecy at Apple (registration possibly required). Secrecy is not just the prevailing communications strategy; it is baked into the corporate culture that had its origin in the release of the first Macintosh. 'It really started around trying to keep the surprise aspect to product launches, which can have a lot of power,' says marketing veteran Regis McKenna who advised Apple in its early days. Today few companies are more secretive than Apple, or as punitive to those who dare violate the company's rules on keeping tight control over information. Employees have been fired for leaking news tidbits to outsiders, and the company has been known to spread disinformation about product plans to its own workers and sue bloggers who cover the company. Apple's decision to severely limit communication with the news media, shareholders, and the public is at odds with the approach taken by many other companies, and many experts agree that the secrecy that adds surprise and excitement to Apple product announcements is not serving the company well in corporate governance. Some say that recent reports that Steve Jobs may have had a liver transplant, still not confirmed by the company, now makes one of Apple's assertions from January — that Jobs was suffering only from a hormonal imbalance — seem like a deliberate untruth."
Parts: The Clonus Horror (Score:5, Funny)
But even by Apple's standards, its handling of news about the health of its chief executive and co-founder, Steven P. Jobs, who has battled pancreatic cancer and recently had a liver transplant while on a leave of absence, is unparalleled.
Indeed, very little of the matter comprising Steve Jobs is still Steve Jobs. The man's like a rebuilt Delorian [delorean.com]. Am I the only person that shudders when he closes all of his speeches with "Remember, there's a little piece of all of you inside me"?
I guess if I ran a cult I'd be asking for new organs from my younger zealots too.
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Re:Parts: The Clonus Horror (Score:4, Insightful)
I (sorta) see where you're coming from; the problem is one of "just because he's a CEO doesn't mean he's not entitled to privacy about medical matters." It was announced that he was having "medical problems;" past that I don't really see as it's the world's business. If it was, we'd not have things such as HIPAA in place.
Re:Parts: The Clonus Horror (Score:5, Insightful)
He has the right for privacy, but investors have the right to speculate -- that's what investors do.
Steve Jobs being at Apple must have some measurable financing impact on the company or else he wouldn't get paid his bonuses.
If Steve wants his privacy, that comes with a share price that's volatile on the basis of speculation. I don't think that's too high a price to pay personally, but he seems very irritable about that reality.
Re:Parts: The Clonus Horror (Score:5, Interesting)
By that argument we should probably require all employees of any publicly traded company to make their genetic sequence available publicly, plus briefs about any potentially dangerous hobbies they may have. Better throw in data about their relationships too. Nothing impairs performance like trouble at home.
This "publicly traded company" nonsense is used to justify too much. "Medical problems" is more than enough for the shareholders and the public.
Re:Parts: The Clonus Horror (Score:4, Insightful)
He did have a hormonal imabalnce, they said he had very serious health issues and would return to work in June. All of that is true. The press thinks it has a right to know everything about everyone. Apple provided all of the information any investor would need to make an informed decision.
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Apple would stand to be sued by the stockholders and Steve Jobs if Apple had intentionally violated the medical privacy act (HIPPA), which is FEDERAL LAW.
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Of course it doesn't have to do with the SEC. Regardless, it is still a law and the company has to follow it.
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Job's health is absolutely his business and no one else's. Who cares if it's a publicly traded company. Did he agree he and his families lives would be an open book to shareholders by virtue of them investing a few dollars? NO.
His professional actions are absolutely subject to scrutiny, after all a public company does not work for it's customers, it works for it's shareholders. This is established, especially in the US. But read that carefully, his PROFESSIONAL actions. It ends there.
If shareholders view hi
Re:Parts: The Clonus Horror (Score:4, Interesting)
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That's like saying "see, my car just went on this straight road fine while I had my hands off the wheel for 5 seconds!". That doesn't mean that it'll also work in tight turns.
Yes, car analogies just work for any fucking thing. I wonder how people did before we had cars...
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Where I might slightly disagree with you is that the Apple, Inc. image is very closely tied to the public illusion that IS Steve Jobs... people don't wait with baited breath for the next press release from Apple... they wait for the next PR demonstration from Steve himself. And yes, to an extent, Steve (though not his family) did agree to be an open book when he allowed himself to become such a big part of Apple's advertising and promotions.
Because of this, I think the shareholders might be due more than "
Re:Parts: The Clonus Horror (Score:4, Interesting)
A share holder of a company that uses it's CEO as one of it's primary selling points does have a right to know if that PR asset is about to kack.
Really, a right? How exactly was that right bestowed upon them? What gave them that right? Is there some sort of shareholder's bill of rights that I haven't heard about which says that if a company uses its CEO as a PR asset then shareholders have the right to know if the CEO is having medical problems?
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I'm a regular citizen, just watching the market like everyone else. You shouldn't have to be a lawyer to do that. The major difference between me and a lot of other people in this discussion is that I'm not going around claiming that shareholders have all these rights that they don't actually have.
I agree that Steve Jobs is a major public part of Apple's success, and I can understand that some investors might not be happy that he's not talking about his health problems. But the thing is, he has every rig
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Disagree. "Medical Problems" more than cover it. If the shareholders disagree, they're welcome to attempt to replace him...
MST3K episode 811 (Score:2)
"Parts: the Clonus Horror" with Peter Graves. Classic.
Avoid the Osborne Effect (Score:5, Insightful)
One of the things Apple learned well by observing others was the Osborne Effect [wikipedia.org]. And its true: Would you buy a "new" iPhone if you were told a better one was 6 months away, and all the cool features it would have eventually?
Re:Avoid the Osborne Effect (Score:5, Interesting)
That's a somewhat interesting question. The fact is is that people know new things are coming out from Apple. Yet they buy the "old" stuff and then bitch and moan when the "new" stuff comes out!
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Maybe they like to iBitch or iComplain or iWine?
Some people cannot wait. They like apple stuff so much that even if they just got a new phone, laptop, or ipod, when the new one comes out they still have to get the new model one. often they sell they 'old' one on ebay or to a friend.
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Naah, when I buy Apple it's on the rare occasion that a product they make is worth its purchase price to me. I am still quite happy with my old G3/G4 (forget which) 6GB iPod mini from four years ago.
Re:Avoid the Osborne Effect (Score:5, Insightful)
I bought the G1 months after it came out. I bought it knowing that Samsung, HTC, and about 7 other companies have already announced that they are making new Android phones. At least 1 of them will be better than the one I have, and it'll probably be within 6 months. I signed a 2 year contract with my provider to get the phone as cheap as possible.
So yes, even knowing that newer, better things were coming out, I did buy the current offerings.
With computers, this is -always- the case. Every computer will be replaced by a better model the next year. Cars, too. And just about everything that has to do with technology.
Yes, there are some people who will say 'oh, there's a better one coming' and wait 6 months for it... But most people won't wait more than a month.
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Except that it isn't true. The "Osborne Effect" didn't even apply to the Osborne. If this WERE true the computer video card industry, with it's 6 month refresh cycles, would have collapsed years ago. In case you aren't familiar, in the video card industry you buy a $500 video card knowing, with absolute certainty, that a much cheaper and faster card will be available at the same price or lower in 6 months. Yet people still buy video cards.
And the cellphone market is an even better example of this. Some "ear
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The vast majority of those who bought the iPhone 3GS ALREADY HAD an iPhone. [citation needed] [wikipedia.org]
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Remember when RAM was like $75 a gig? d:
I must be old - I remember when it was $25/meg.
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I can remember paying like $200 for a 16 kilobyte static RAM board for my Altair 680b. How old does that make me? And where did I leave my walker?
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Most I ever paid was $120 for 16K (actually, $240 for 32K - I wanted to max out my memory). It was a lot cheaper than the Radio Shack price of $300 per 16K. (Of course, this was dynamic memory, but the Z80 had provisions to refresh dynamic memory.)
Mmmm, but how much is that worth in 2009 dollars?
Wait, bad comparison. How much is that worth in 2008 dollars?
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The Osborne Effect may have been true during the late PPC era when Apple had a flat marketshare and grim upgrade prospects. But the average iPhone/MacBook customer doesn't follow the Apple rumormill and doesn't give a flip.
Re:Avoid the Osborne Effect (Score:5, Interesting)
...Would you buy a "new" iPhone if you were told a better one was 6 months away, and all the cool features it would have eventually?
But there's more to it than the Osborne effect. Apple's innovations are often the sort that can be echoed by competitors, diluting the return on their initiative and investment if disclosed too early. In this respect they're no different from any other toy company. I remember it once being said that it was easier to enter the offices of the Pentagon than to acquire a visitors pass to Mattel, so the secrecy may be simply good business.
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Given how much hype there is over every future possible Apple product, it's not clear to me that Apple have mastered the Osborne Effect - far from it (although I suppose it could be argued that since there's so much hype over even mere rumour, people have no way of telling actual planned products from vapourware when it comes to Apple). Talking of which, the idea that Apple are a secret company seems rather odd, given the coverage they get. It's been what, three Apple stories just today? If Steve Jobs so mu
...so? (Score:4, Insightful)
[sarcasm]
SHOCK
HORROR
How DARE they keep secrets secret!!! I am entitled to know everything they do, when they do it, and if I don't like it, I am entitled to force them to change it because I am entitled!
[/sarcasm]
*rolls eyes*
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This needs to be modded up :)
"Deliberate untruth"? (Score:5, Insightful)
In plain English, that's called a lie.
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In plain English, that's called a lie.
Careful comrade, plusungoodwise nearful crimespeak, crimestop rapidwise.
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They don't lie, they just express their own, corporate, nonobjective, exaggerated and skewed point of view and expect us to believe it. Apple didn't invent it but for fear of being sued by shareholders, they have to perpetuate it. Sad. Ok, time for me to tune-in to the shopping channel and get some facts.
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Well, do you have any idea how exhausting it is to be high on half a dozen different narcotic substances as well as a few types prescription medicine 24/7? Yeah, that's right, you'd be exhausted to. :P
/Mikael
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I mean, look at all the celebrities who are hospitalized for "exhaustion."
I'd rather not if Jobs is going flash us while getting out of his car a la Britney Spears......
It's a funny kind of ship that leaks from the top. (Score:2, Interesting)
What was the difference? If I or a colleague said anything, it was a leak, and we'd be fried. But if someone on top said something, well, that was strategic.
See the difference?
Re:It's a funny kind of ship that leaks from the t (Score:5, Funny)
I was with Apple through the late 90's. Yes, that was an era of leaks -- but more often than not, they came from up top, not from the folks down in the trenches.
What was the difference? If I or a colleague said anything, it was a leak, and we'd be fried. But if someone on top said something, well, that was strategic.
See the difference?
At least you got to keep your job!
Re:It's a funny kind of ship that leaks from the t (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, their leaks were planned and approved, which makes them strategic. You did not have that right.
Re:It's a funny kind of ship that leaks from the t (Score:5, Funny)
mmMMmm...Delicious Apple Fritters.
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See the difference?
Despite your attempt at sarcasm, I DO see the difference. Generally people not in upper management making decisions that affect the whole company is frowned upon. Do you also get equally upset when upper management decides to develop some new product, and they don't let you make that decision?
Or maybe it's a deliberate partial truth... (Score:4, Insightful)
Combine that with the fact that plenty of perfectly healthy CEOs have been raping and plundering their companies, destroying entire industries with practices ranging from questionable to outright fraudulent. Jobs' health is his own concern, and I wish him good health for its own sake, not the value of my share in Apple.
The SEC may be interested... (Score:4, Insightful)
It seems impossible to me to attribute All Things To Chairman Steve, and at the same time suggest that serious illness of the CEO, Chief Designer, Head Boffin, and the virtual Persona of Apple Inc is not a material event, and is something the company can glibly lie about. http://valleywag.gawker.com/5028508/steve-jobss-health-leads-top-apple-flack-to-contract-common-bug-with-the-truth [gawker.com]
If true that Jobs had liver replacement, why is this not a violation of reporting requirements?
Re:The SEC may not be all that interested... (Score:2)
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No, sorry. Wrong.
Once he takes a job as an OFFICER of a PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANY, he surrenders some measure of his privacy.
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[citation needed]
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Does "some measure" include his current medical condition? Can I call Microsoft and demand a stool sample from Mr. Ballmer so that I can determine if he's healthy?
Re:The SEC may be interested... (Score:4, Funny)
Don't worry, Microsoft are releasing shit all the time. I'm sure some of it is Ballmer's.
Better title would be... (Score:5, Insightful)
The culture of secrecy is not an Apple exclusive. Any company that has an inventory which needs to be sold would be foolish to open it's future product line to the public's eyes.
Any company which has a carefully crafted public image will not suffer just anyone to make public announcements about them. This goes double (well, a few billion times actually) for companies which are publicly traded.
Anyone who is upset about a so called "deliberate untruth" regarding someone's health is a total jackass. This article is almost too stupid to respond to.
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Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, and so on and so forth publish road maps about future products all of the time. They can still sell their inventories.
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I an go to Intel, Microsoft, Sun, Oracle, or IBM, and in return for signing a NDA, they will give a roadmap of what their product lines will be doing in the next 1-5 years. I then can go time equipment purchases around their model cycles.
Apple? No way to get that info. I don't know if the $500,000 I'm spending on Mac hardware will be obsolete and unsupported in 24 hours.
However, Apple knows this. To be honest, I am pretty sure they don't want into the enterprise. They are best served as being a toy mak
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I an go to Intel, Microsoft, Sun, Oracle, or IBM, and in return for signing a NDA, they will give a roadmap of what their product lines will be doing in the next 1-5 years.
And how well has Longhorn been running on Itanium for you? How about that RAMBUS memory?
I don't know if the $500,000 I'm spending on Mac hardware will be obsolete and unsupported in 24 hours.
Why are you spending $500,000 on 6+ year old hardware?
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Huh? I would think the company's owners have every right to know who is actually running it.
Yes, yes but. . . (Score:2)
. . .the article also claims that Apple's policy "is at odds with the approach taken by many other companies". So. . .uh. . .so how do you like those apples?
Re:Better title would be... (Score:5, Insightful)
The point is that Apple decided to lie about Steve Jobs health to avoid a stock price crash.
There is a good reason why stockholders and the SEC should be angry
Personal Life (Score:5, Insightful)
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When you're the CEO and public face of a major corporation your health is of great legitimate interest to shareholders, bondholders, and other interested parties as it can have a major affect on share price.
And Steve Jobs isn't just any CEO. He is associated more strongly with Apple than perhaps any CEO is associated with any large company in America. Apple has a history of being adrift without Steve Jobs at the helm.
It doesn't matter that Jobs doesn't run Apple day to day. In the stock market perception is
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He is associated more strongly with Apple than perhaps any CEO is associated with any large company in America.
Not quite. Throughout history there have been CEOs who've been very strongly associated with their companies. Here's a short, non-exhaustive list (in no particular order):
Bill Gates - Microsoft
Warren Buffet - Berkshire Hathaway
Jack Welch - General Electric
Larry Ellison - Oracle
Andy Grove - Intel
Michael Bloomberg - Bloomberg
Charles Schwabb - Charles Schwabb
J.P. Morgan - J.P. Morgan and Co.
John D. Rockefeller - Standard Oil
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Not quite. Throughout history there have been CEOs who've been very strongly associated with their companies. Here's a short, non-exhaustive list (in no particular order):
Bill Gates - Microsoft
Warren Buffet - Berkshire Hathaway
Jack Welch - General Electric
Not to mention: Ken Olson (deceased) - Digital Equipment Corporation (also deceased).
I have observed that organisations held together by a charismatic leader often include that leader's charisma as a structural principle all throughout the org chart. And when that charisma goes missing, the wires get very tangled.
Leadership is important. You can't replace it with mere management.
Re:Personal Life (Score:5, Insightful)
It might not fold, but dramatic shrinkage (massive layoffs, etc.) is very likely.
What are you talking about? What about Steve Jobs dying would cause massive layoffs and dramatic shrinkage? Because he is the one designing ipods? Because no one else in the company can continue the music and computer business? It's not like Steve makes all this stuff, he approves it, and decides the general direction. And now the direction is pretty clear in the Mac, Phone, and music industries that Apple should have enough to go on for a while, even without any new revolutionary devices. Please explain how exactly Steve Jobs death would ruin Apple, why they can't just keep going on the momentum they have.
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Being a CEO of a publicly traded company DOES mean you need to reveal to shareholders any information you have that could impact the company's value (stock price).
Apple, including Jobs himself, are VERY well aware of the impact Steve Jobs' health has upon the stock price. They've seen it happen before when he was sick, and when he was rumored to have died.
Then again, Steve Jobs shouldn't be back-dating his stock options either.
Apple shouldn't be hiding continued costs for product development and support by
obsession of obsession (Score:5, Funny)
How about an article about the medias obsession over Apples obsession about secrecy?
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It's a secret.
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How about an article about slashdotters' obsession over the media's obsession over Apple's obsession about secrecy? These things wouldn't get posted if people didn't read them, y'know.
And yes, I'm aware I'm part of the problem as well, but its always fun to watch the Apple fanboys 'in their own turf', so to speak ;)
Not just a deliberate untruth, possibly illegal (Score:4, Interesting)
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Nonsense. The rights of shareholders of a corporation to be informed about materially relevant information about the enterprise do not in general override the privacy rights of its CEO, only in very specific instances (e.g., the CEO is forced to disclose his transactions on company stock, and other dealings with the corporations such as pay and benefits). The possibility that the CEO of a corporation you're investing in is secretly very sick and will die soon is, well, just a risk that you have to take.
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Blizzard Entertainment (Score:2)
Deliberate Untruth? (Score:2, Insightful)
Hmmm, I would not classify that as a deliberate untruth since having a malfunctioning liver will indeed cause a hormonal imbalance. I would classify it as a good 'ol half-truth instead.
Definition, please. (Score:2)
Is that anything like a lie?
If I was still an Apple shareholder I would be extremely pissed at the Apple CEO for keeping such an important bit of information secret. How much you want to bet that the very few people who knew the truth made some interesting trades in Apple stock during the period this deliberate lie was in effect.
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If so, it didn't get them anywhere. Apple's stock price fell a bit in response to the "hormonal imbalance" thing, but it's up quite a bit above that now and holding fairly steady. Particularly so when compared to the rest of the market.
Personally (and as an Apple stockholder) I would have preferred they just said Steve was sick and taking some time off. I don't think owning stock in a company gives me the right to demand personal information about any of their employees.
New Mac Commercial (Score:2, Funny)
Apple: Hi, I'm a Mac.
PC: Hey, Mac, that's a very professional looking suit you have on there. Quite a change: is it an Armani, by any chance?
Apple: Oh, no. I'm just here to deliver you these papers. See you in court.
*Commercial ends with "Think Different (R)" on the screen.
Anything is better than Microsoft FUD and whining (Score:2, Flamebait)
I'd sooner have secrecy than having to listen to Balmer and co whinging about Google and talking about suing Linux vendors all the time.
Apple is pretty good in the sense that they don't appear to criticise the competition (or if they do it doesn't make the news). They get on with what they do best.
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Re:Anything is better than Microsoft FUD and whini (Score:5, Informative)
Apple is pretty good in the sense that they don't appear to criticise the competition (or if they do it doesn't make the news). They get on with what they do best.
Never seen the "I'm a Mac - I'm a PC" advertising campaign?
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Apple is pretty good in the sense that they don't appear to criticise the competition (or if they do it doesn't make the news).
They certainly do. [youtube.com]
"1984" (Score:2)
Apple is pretty good in the sense that they don't appear to criticize the competition (or if they do it doesn't make the news). They get on with what they do best.
1984 Apple's Macintosh Commercial [youtube.com]
Steve's health affected stock price - NOT (Score:2)
If you look at Apple's stock price around the times health issues were declared, then you will see that it mirrors more the general tech market than knee jerk reactions to his health.
Sometimes their security sucks. (Score:2)
I recall, back in the mid-eighties, visiting an Apple development site (on business I won't go into here). I noticed that they had a bunch of trays lying around with encouragement for the people to deposit used papers in them for recycling. Lots of rah-rah-eco-responsibility slogans on them. My impression was that these were pervasive throughout the company.
They were full of listings of the software under development.
They were provided by an external service.
OCR systems for stock printer fonts were just
secrecy can go too far (Score:2)
I don't have any problem with their hiding specific product details. But some of it is just insulting. All mention of ZFS has disappeared. Are they not ready? Have the reconsidered their commitment to it? Why should we be put in the position of Kremlin-watchers in the days of the Soviet Union, having to read meaning into the most minor of wording?
Enterprise customers expect a bit more communication, and as a consumer customer I'd appreciate it as well.
Another big problem is serious product defects. When
Steve Jobs is dead (Score:5, Funny)
enough with beating around the bush (Score:2)
Steve Jobs may have had a liver transplant, still not confirmed by the company, now makes one of Apple's assertions from January -- that Jobs was suffering only from a hormonal imbalance -- seem like a deliberate untruth."
"Deliberate untruth?" How about "bald-faced lie?" That's like trying to recast rape as "surprise sex."
Apple deliberately lied and concealed the state of Steve's health because they wanted to prevent a public panic. The public would panic because Jobs' has been made the public face of the company, is Apple to the public's perception, and the wheels will fall off if he's out of the picture. Whether or not that would be the case, this is how the public feels. Given his rock star CEO status and given that the s
isn't the SEC going to come down hard on apple? (Score:4, Insightful)
Isn't this like withholding info from shareholders?
I would think that the health of Steve Jobs is quite important to the stock price of apple.
Re:isn't the SEC going to come down hard on apple? (Score:5, Insightful)
I would think that the health of Steve Jobs is quite important to the stock price of apple.
So fing what, are the greed of shareholders and the privileges they hold as shareholders more important than the rights to personal privacy held by Steve Jobs? Is that what this is about? Money money money money, tell me if your liver is shutting down because I need that information to make more money.
Listen, there are privileges, and there are rights. They are not the same. A lot of things that people go around spouting as "rights" are in fact "privileges", not rights. You have the right to gather with other people in public. You have the privilege, if applicable, to drive a car on public streets. You have the right to say whatever you want to say as long as it doesn't infringe upon someone else's right. You have the privilege to drink alcohol when you turn 21. You have the right to have your privacy protected. As a shareholder, you have the privilege to know what's going on with the company you invested in.
If you don't like what's going on in the company you invested in, the solution is pretty obvious. And it doesn't involve getting angry at the CEO because he didn't want to tell you about the biological processes going on in his body. It's his right not to have to do that.
Your privilege does not outweigh his right, and I'm sorry if you don't like that, and I'm sorry if you lose money because of it.
Christ.
Do CEOs Matter? (Score:2)
From The Atlantic. Ruthlessly compressed.
It has become conventional to think that a corporation, for better or worse, takes on the coloration of its CEO--Jack Welch turns GE into a tribe of aggressive, rigorously unsentimental alpha dogs; Jeff Skilling populates Enron with nihilists expert in gaming the system.
But how strong is this power--or any executive power?
James March goes so far as to say that in any well-run company that's conscientious about grooming its managers, candidates for the top job are so
Liver problems and IGF-1... (Score:2)
"Some say that recent reports that Steve Jobs may have had a liver transplant, still not confirmed by the company, now makes one of Apple's assertions from January â" that Jobs was suffering only from a hormonal imbalance â" seem like a deliberate untruth."
Really? You know IGF-1 is produced in the liver right? Lack of IGF-1 can affect weight. It's directly related to growth hormone. So, at worst, we're talking misdirection here, not deliberate untruth.
A Company W/o Trade Secrets Isn't Competing (Score:3, Insightful)
Every business entity has something their coulda/woulda/shoulda done differently. And, every stock holder wants complete transparency for all business dealings and information but their own.
Apple feels it realizes a business advantage from playing its cards a bit closer to the vest than - say - Dell. The only difference, the only difference between the trade secrets Apple holds dear (starting from the very existence of an unreleased product, on down) to those for Dell (a US$0.02 price advantage on sata cables) is that Apple's are vastly more interesting to read about.
Therefore, what Apple considers a trade secret is of great financial interest to writers and publishers who are accustomed to knowing every corporate detail except how the execs are manipulating the company stock this week, and which subordinates they're dicking.
If the press, or more to the point the stockholders, don't think they're feeling enough love, they can sell the other owners on the Transparent Apple, Inc. concept at the next stockholders meeting, and vote a new board accordingly. Until I see signs of a nasty proxy fight over this, the whole thing is made up news, or in the word of the metatags, !news.
Re:Not everything is money (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, but according to a leak I heard from a top Apple exec, he will miraculously rise after 3 days and reveal a new iPhone unto his disciples!
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I don't see how withholding private medical information can be construed as misleading shareholders. It's perfectly likely that he DID have a hormonal imbalance, in addition to whatever was causing it.
Re:Comments on secrecy... (Score:5, Interesting)
nytimes blogsafe links (Score:5, Informative)
New York Times link generator [blogspace.com]
For instance Apple's Obsession With Secrecy Grows Stronger [nytimes.com]
In this case, "?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all" was appended, though at times, other magic keys have been required.
Re:Apple is not a tech company (Score:5, Insightful)
"Oh, and that whole ease of use thing."
Don't confuse the marketing tricks with the product. Miller Lite is beer (sort of). They're selling beer. They're suggesting you'll have a good time if you drink it, but they're selling beer.
Apple is selling a computer system. Not a computer, a computer system. They're an integration company. You're perfectly correct, the hardware is not particularly special. Rather, it's the way it's put together and runs. Like pretty much any other company, they use commercials that promise you'll have a good time and be popular if you buy the product.
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...with competing products has fewer features, and is more expensive...
Anybody who can do this deserves all the money they can get from all of the supposed suckers who buy Apple products. All the other companies who sell all these fantastic products, especially Windows computers are losing money or maybe barely making a profit. A company who can sell you the sizzle and keep the steak must be doing something right. After all, most businesses I know are there to make a profit and Apple is pretty profitable t
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Sure...
OK, we have a 1099 dollar MacBook here and a 799 HP laptop here. The Apple is more expensive, one less USB port, same size screen, and IEEE 1394 port on my Mac.
The HP that lacks "selling sex appeal, social status, and "having a good time"' hangs every couple hours, wifi drops hourly and reboots 3-5 times a week. My sexy, social status having a good time Mac has 9 days uptime right now.
I've been using computers for 30 years now, our first computer was a IBM PC XT in April '83, first laptop I used was
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Sounds like you picked up a crappy HP.
My £500 3 year old PC has never crashed, doesn't hang, doesn't drop WiFi (I've had disconnects, but only due to the router, not the laptop). It Just Works.
Actually tell a lie, I have had hangs - when I'm running Itunes (though the OS recovers fine when I close off the dodgy software).
Wow, 9 days. Obviously no one's ever had a PC on for that long.
USB and Wifi weren't Apple inventions, but no doubt like most mythical "Apple firsts", you are using some definition of