Apple swears iPad partners to secrecy

16 years ago

“Apple makes big demands of software developers who want an early crack at the iPad. Would-be testers of the tablet-style computer, due to be released Apr. 3, must promise to keep it isolated in a room with blacked-out windows, according to four people familiar with the more than 10-page pact that bars partners from disclosing information about the iPad,” Douglas MacMillan reports for BusinessWeek.

“To ensure that it can’t be removed, the iPad must also remain tethered to a fixed object, said the people, who asked not to be named because their plans for the iPad have not been made public,” MacMillan reports. “Apple won’t send out an iPad until potential partners send photographic evidence that they’ve complied.”

MacMillan reports, “Bending to Apple’s demands may be a small price to pay for inclusion among software programmers who get a jump start on applications for a potentially best-selling product. Munster expects Apple to sell 3 million to 4 million iPads in the first year.”

MacDailyNews Take: Too low.

MacMillan continues, “Apple’s code of silence extends to 140-character messages on the microblogging site Twitter. During an in-person meeting with Apple representatives in February, Wall Street Journal Deputy Managing Editor Alan Murray posted a short message to Twitter that announced he was using the device. The tweet was later removed from the site.”