Apple's Mystique: The Dark Side

By Smita Patil Priyanka Pendurkar Harnish Shah Ramchandra Sawant

 Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc., for its first 30 years, but removed the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007, to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers Experts felt that apples success was, in part, due to the mystique surrounding Apple and its products which has been created by the company by maintaining a veil of secrecy

About Apple

 Secrecy has become one of the key elements of Apple's corporate culture. Apple has imposed harsh sanctions on employees who violated rules by sharing information. Apple sued bloggers, online journalists and former employees for disclosing confidential details about upcoming products. In 2009, the company also attracted criticism for failing to disclose vital information regarding CEO Steve Jobs' health to its shareholders. Bob Borchers, senior director of worldwide product marketing for the iPhone, said "The thing that's often missed is the power of secrecy and how it turns into incredibly exciting launches at the end of the day. When you let details trickle out, people say I know about that already but if you maintain that aura of what's coming, that generates more interest from people and that's good business."

Facts
innovation secrecy Criticism Topped fortunes magazines list for 2 consecutive years Apple shipped 22.7 million iPods during its first quarter (up 3 percent from last year), 2.5 million Macs (up 9 percent), and 4.4 million iPhones

 How Apple maintained a culture of secrecy at the company ?

why this culture of secrecy maintained at Apple, which supposedly gave Apple a competitive edge ?

Were Apples actions ethical Or Should they be changed ?

o Innovation & veil of secrecy are the USPs o Cant afford to change the policies
o Relaxing a few clauses Disclosure of important information to shareholders o Avoid criticism