CollinsApple is known for its secrecy, and a cease and desist letter obtained by Motherboard recently gives new light on why, claiming that leaks affect accessory manufacturers, users, and Apple itself.
Apple’s lawyers in China reportedly sent a C&D order to a Chinese person, claiming that disclosures about Apple’s iPhone dimensions could mislead case producers, leading to accessories that are incompatible with the final product. According to Apple, “third-party accessory makers may produce and sell mobile phone cases and other attachments that are not truly compatible with the unreleased goods.” According to Motherboard, the global market for Apple accessories is worth about $20 billion.
Apple also claims that stolen information hampers them from surprising and delighting customers at launch events. “Apple has taken every effort to maintain confidentiality for any knowledge about Apple’s products before their official release to guarantee that Apple may surprise the world every time it announces a new product,” the letter adds. “An important part of Apple’s DNA is the secret of its latest technological innovation.”
“Such situations are detrimental to both consumers and Apple’s interests. As a result, it is self-evident that keeping secret unpublished knowledge about the design and performance of Apple’s products has actual and potential commercial value,” Apple writes.
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The letter was delivered as part of what appears to be a social media crackdown on the sale of undisclosed Apple prototypes. Factory employees are allegedly stealing these devices and selling them to anyone who can profit from them, resulting in information about the items being made public well ahead of their official announcements.
The cease and desist letter obtained by Motherboard was dated June 18th, according to Motherboard. It’s unclear how many people received similar letters, but the month matches with a seller’s Twitter account, which goes by the name “Mr. “White,” he said as he walked away from the platform. In June, a leaker going by the handle “Kang” revealed on Weibo that they’d received a notification from the corporation and that they’d stopped tweeting about new gadgets.
There are a variety of reasons why firms don’t want their undisclosed plans made public, in addition to what Apple describes in its letter. If proprietary product information is made public, competitors may be able to start developing knockoff products ahead of schedule. And, according to the so-called “Osborne effect,” hearing that an updated item is on the way may make users less willing to acquire an existing model.
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