How Apple does it? How they have more and more success with each launch they make? Those are the questions on every tech lover mind. According to an unnamed company, Apple makes millions of dollars only from the amount of press coverage in the weeks leading up to a new launch. How? The secret is in secrets. That’s right, you’ve read it well: secrets. According to Adam Lashinsky’s new book, “Inside Apple”, all the company is based on secrecy, both external and internal.

Rumors, the Main Engine for Apple’s Marketing Team

Whenever something big is afoot, new walls are quickly erected, doors are put and security protocols are changed. Rooms, even with no windows appear out of nowhere and no information goes in or out. That’s when a new, highly secretive project is under way. First is the external secrecy. But this is normal, any other company has it. It’s the way by which Apple tries to keep their secrets away from competitors and the outside world.

And then it’s the internal one.Now here’s where it gets trickier. Because no one that works for Apple ever knows more than they need. Not even new recruits don’t know all the details for the job they hope to obtain. Most of the employees are hired in so-called “dummy-positions”, roles that aren’t explained in detail until after they join the company. The new employees attend a half-day of accommodation, always on a Monday. Reality checks in for the new recruits at the security briefing. In this case, the Apple philosophy is simple: you reveal our secrets, intentionally or not, you are terminated. And this doesn’t mean just getting fired, it means law-suits. Which you are guaranteed to lose.

Apple’s Empire is Built Around Secrets

Apple, the Company that Transforms Secrets and Rumors into Money

But why all this secrecy? Is it all needed? For Apple, it is. You see, when Apple launches a new product, everything about that product had been a total secret. And that generates a lot of press coverage, which, on its turn, generates millions of dollars for the company. How can press coverage mean so much money? Easy. If information would be leaked about a new product that is about to be launched, even if the time difference between the rumour and the actual launch would be of almost a year, sales on products that are currently on the market will be hugely affected, meaning loses in the order of millions.

No employee talks about Apple. Not because of fear, but because they don’t know much except their own work. Even in meetings, no one talks until they are sure that everyone in the room has been disclosed on the topic. So, with such a high level of secrecy at the level of the entire company, it is understandable why the press coverage is so highly valuable to Apple. Even more as Apple is the most highly headlined company in the world.

News of the iPhone, iPad, iTunes or something else related to the company have good chances of being among the top headlines every day in the top news sites around the world every day. Last year, Apple commanded a staggering 15% of the coverage market, which was by far the most coveted tech company in the world ( next on the list was Twitter with 7.1% ). So, when you win millions of dollars from it, isn’t it worth all the secrecy leading to the media frenzy surrounding the weeks previous a new release?