Mark Gurman, writing for Bloomberg, obtained and published a leaked memo from Apple concerning... leaks.
Last month, Apple caught and fired the employee responsible for leaking details from an internal, confidential meeting about Apple's software roadmap. Hundreds of software engineers were in attendance, and thousands more within the organization received details of its proceedings. One person betrayed their trust.
As John Gruber pointed out on Daring Fireball, most of the leaks detailed in the memo, ironically, appear to have been provided to... Mark Gurman.
Yeah, it's a brain boggler. But there's something less gobsmacking and more important that I think requires discussion — there are different kinds of leaks.
There are the kinds of leaks that concern future products. These are typically sought after by investors deciding where and when to move their money and consumers looking for when and if to make purchases. They''re spoilers.
Apple hates them because Apple treats products as surprises, akin to the plots of major books, TV shows, or movies. Apple invests considerable time and effort into both the atom and bits, and the reveal. It's not only a moment of intense internal pride and pageantry but of incredibly valuable marketing and storytelling.
Over the years, I've come not to care much for these kinds of leaks.
Apple almost always has a new version of a product coming out, or an obvious category it's inevitably going to expand into. The products Apple is working on, ultimately, are often predictable and typically much less interesting than how those products turn out once they ship.
My only real beef with these types of leaks, which I'll call spoilers, is that some people gorge on them and then, when the product is actually announced, declare it boring and lacking in surprise.
It's akin to someone leaking the script for the Game of Thrones finale or the last Star Wars sequel, reading it, then declaring the show boring and lacking in surprise.
Those people are, frankly assholes.
There's another kind of leak, though. The kind that reveals misconduct and malfeasance. We saw that kind of leak recently with the Cambridge Analytica story, and we've seen it in the past regarding all kinds of security, privacy, financial, and decency violations.
Those are the important leaks. The ones that bring abuses to light.
So, if Apple cracks down on spoilers, that's fine. Especially when money changes hands and the spoilers become crimes.
I realize it can lead to stock manipulation, help people make better-informed purchasing decisions, cost Apple millions if not more in revenue and morale, and let media outlets monetize rumors true and false, and the backs-and-forths in between.
But there will be another iPhone, new AirPods, and an iOS next either way. And, a year later, who really cares what was leaked the year before? Who even remembers?
It's when the leaks are about things that really matter — when they reveal the wrongdoing and the crimes— that's when we all need to know.
