“In this TechnoBuffalo exclusive, a source close to the action gave us an inside look at what went on behind the scenes at America’s number-one carrier as Apple finally ended its iPhone exclusivity. This unique perspective is something that people don’t normally have access to, and it sheds light on the way a major tech company handles its veil of secrecy, how it learned from past mistakes, and what it takes to craft a buzzworthy tech unveiling,” Adriana Lee reports for TechnoBuffalo.
“When top-secret handsets are active and put out in the wild, an interesting challenge pops up — how do you secure them? After all, given what happened last year [with iPhone 4], no one wanted history to repeat itself,” Lee reports. “Our source describes a unique protocol requiring staffers to text a secret PIN code to a dedicated phone number every 12 hours. This served as ongoing confirmation that the handset was still in the proper hands. So no PIN code, no functionality.”
MacDailyNews Take: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.
Lee reports, “Though key employees and executives were in the loop, everyone else at the carrier knew little more than the rest of the public. And it would seem the higher ups wanted to keep it that way. No one talked about the Apple smartphone externally, and even internally, it was still a hush-hush operation. In fact, says the source, the word ‘iPhone’ was never uttered; only its codename was referenced: It was called the “ACME” device. Weighty NDAs, clandestine tests, codenames and secrecy…. yep, definitely Applesque… Think of it like setting up a surprise party: You say nothing to the birthday boy/girl, to make it seem like you forgot or overlooked the occasion. And then when disappointment sets in, WHAMMO!”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Another WHAMMO looming for WWDC?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dow C.” for the heads up.]