Apple CEO Tim Cook is fed up with employees who leak details of upcoming devices to the press. He sent out a company-wide memo that said, “people who leak confidential information do not belong here.”
The memo was quickly leaked to the press.
Tim Cook hasn’t reached ‘snitches get stitches’ … yet
In Tuesday’s all-employee memo, which somebody leaked to The Verge, Cook expressed his frustration with leaks, admitting Apple just had “a product launch in which most of the details of our announcements were also leaked to the press.”
He’s referring to the iPhone 13 series — virtually every detail of these new models was known long before last week’s unveiling during Apple’s “California Streaming” event. The same goes for the iPad mini, which Apple also announced last Tuesday. The tiny tablet’s upgraded specs leaked out months earlier.
Cook wants to stop the leaks.
“I want to reassure you that we are doing everything in our power to identify those who leaked,” he said in Tuesday’s memo. Apple’s CEO also — obliquely — threatened to fire anyone caught providing insider information to the press. “We know that the leakers constitute a small number of people,” said Cook. “We also know that people who leak confidential information do not belong here.”
No luck ending Apple leaks
Apple has been trying to crack down on people who leak company secrets for years. Way back in 2007, Cupertino crushed an Apple rumors website called Think Secret. And earlier this year, Apple filed a lawsuit against a former materials scientist who worked for the company for 11 years, alleging that he leaked insider info to the media. That’s after Cook warned employees in 2018 about harsh punishment for leaking Apple secrets.
Nevertheless, the leaks continue. Many of the details of the 2022 iPhone 14 are already publicly available, for example.
As is info about the 2023 and 2024 models.
But Apple keeps trying to stop the leaks.
