There are two types of secrecy at apple; external and internal. The external secrecy is meant to keep its products and practices hidden from competitors and the rest of the outside world. In contrast to internal secrecy, external secrecy is easy to understand as all companies try to keep their innovations to themselves. Internal secrecy at Apples can be easily spotted as the office building is full of security protocols, tinted windows, and off-limit areas. No information goes in or out with no reason. If information hasn’t been disclosed to an employee, then it is not their business. Unlike other companies, everything in Apple is a secret. Apple is acknowledging with the fact that their company is secretive, in the company store which is open to public they sell shirts saying “I visited the Apple campus. But that’s all I’m allowed to say.”
Secrecy and security are a big deal to Apple. Co-workers are discouraged to talk about work when together, and some assignments are so secretive that employees are restricted from speaking to their family members about it. When Apple launches a product the amount of press coverage and attention they get is incredibly valuable to the company. It is known by every employee at Apple, the penalty for revealing secrets is termination. At a certain meeting Steve Jobs said “Anything disclosed from this meeting will result not in just termination but in the prosecution to the fullest extent that our lawyers can.” The stress from such secret keeping becomes too much for some. This shows that Apple follows the autocratic leadership style. Close control is kept over followers, and a distinct professional relationship is created in order to tell the leader from the followers.
Apple does not release any information prior to the release of the product which is a constant at the company. There are three reasons explaining Apple’s paranoia of leaking information. Firstly, Apple does not want to dampen the excitement customers have before they buy the product. Secondly they do not want to steal attention from their products that are already in the market. If consumers know what is coming they might hold off a purchase thinking that something newer will arrive. In 2011, the talks of the new iPhone hurt sales of the existing iPhone 4. Lastly, announcing products before they are ready gives competition time to respond and gives critics an ability to criticize the idea not the actual product.