Apple Swears Developers to Secrecy for Early iPad Access
Although you can’t read a Mac publication or talk about Apple without stumbling over lengthy coverage of the iPad, for developers wanting a sneak peak before April 3, the story is much different. Much. In a 10-page document, Apple binds developers to the strictest rules of secrecy outside the CIA.
In a requirement harkening back to World War II, Apple insists developers quarantine the iPad in a room with blacked-out windows, presumably to prevent the tablet device being ogled by telephoto lenses, according to BusinessWeek. If that’s not enough, the iPad “must remain tethered to a fixed object,” according to the report which cites four people familiar with the secrecy rules. Finally, because Apple is a trusting lot, developers seeking to use a pre-release iPad must send Cupertino photographic proof that all steps have been met.
And all this just to develop a game?
Already there are signs developers may be willing to jump through such James Bondian hoops for early access to the iPad. Almost triple the usual number of apps were developed for the iTunes Apps Store after the iPad was unveiled, according to one metrix firm.
Not even a former Apple insider can get preferential treatment when it comes to early access to the iPad. Trip Hawkins, once Apple’s marketing chief, got nowhere, he told the publication.
The relationship Apple has with its developer base can take on a symbiotic form. Developers want to test their applications on the iPad, while Apple needs developers to produce applications early enough to create those jaw-dropping product unveilings.
- Via Silicon Alley Insider and BusinessWeek
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
