You know very well that the latest Apple products were described in detail by rumors many months before they were presented by Apple, and some employees of the company say that the problem lies with the Chinese partners. The company's employees say that in the US the security measures imposed by Apple are stricter than when Steve Jobs lived, the products having to be well hidden when they are tested on the Apple campus or in Cupertino. Although the security measures are very strict in the US, in China the situation is completely different, Apple employees saying that most of the rumors about the company's products come from there.
The employees all told us that security at Apple remains as strict—if not slightly stricter—as ever. Prototypes have to be carried around on company grounds while covered in a black cloth so other employees can't sneak a peek. Those who take prerelease products off campus are heavily restricted when using them with other people (even other Apple employees) in the vicinity. Internal security teams covertly monitor which IRC channels employees like to hang out in. Instead, leaks about the iPhone 5, the Retina MacBook Pro, and the (expected) iPad mini came from somewhere within Apple's long global supply chain.
Talking to several Apple employees, those from ArsTechnica has learned that everyone blames the Chinese for the rumors about the products not yet launched, and they are most likely right. Of course, blaming the Chinese is a very simple tactic, but that does not mean that in the US there are only people who follow the rules. There are quite a few rumors that are based on Apple employees from the US, but the vast majority of information comes from China, and here we also include the components that we see months before they are assembled in iDevices.
"Apple's security practices are targeted at making sure US employees don't leak stuff, but everything comes out of China now," one employee told Ars. "I think Apple's secrecy mode is really outdated." "You've got thousands of people working on manufacturing something who have no vested interest in keeping it secret," one employee said, adding that he believes leaks will continue to increase as Apple ramps up overseas manufacturing operations. "It will be increasingly hard to hide the industrial design we do because we manufacture things overseas. Since we don't do it in the US, it may be hard to surprise people over anything in the future." "Clearly, the people who need the security training are not here" said another. "They're not getting the same level of scrutiny as we are, and it shows
Although at the moment Apple has a very big problem in keeping its products secret, unfortunately it can't really stop the appearance of rumors, and that's because its partners don't respect the security measures imposed by the Americans.
