Is Apple Doubling Down on Secrecy - Again?

Apple apparently won't launch new products until the Autumn at the earliest, but is this just more bluff from Apple?

Tim Cook is coming under pressure. He has overseen Apple during a period when the stock price has lost almost 40 percent of its value over a six month period, and everyone from shareholders to fan boys are screaming for new and wildly exciting products.

iWatch, iTV, budget iPhone. They want it all and they want it now.

These people will have been doubly disappointed by Cook's words during the earnings call following Apple's latest set of financial results.

"Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware and software and services for this [Autumn] and throughout 2014," he said plainly. When pushed on the statement by an analyst, he didn't change the timeline. It was clear. No major Apple announcement for four months at least.

Unprecedented

That would put the gap between the last Apple announcement (the iPad mini) and the next at around ten months or so - unprecedented for Apple of late.

But is this simply the latest game of bluff from Apple, a company known for keeping its card close to its chest?

Steve Jobs was serious about secrecy. During his reign, Apple staff felt under pain of death if anything leaked. When he took the stage at Macworld in 2007 and announced the iPhone, it was a proper surprise for those watching.

Fast forward five years and when Tim Cook took the stage to announce the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini in 2012, there was little in the way of surprise, thanks to a series of leaks leading up the announcement.

Double down

This was despite Cook saying in May of last year: "We're going to double down on secrecy on products."

Real surprise announcements in the consumer technology world are like hens' teeth these days, where everyone knows everything about a product before it is announced.

Most of the coverage of Apple online consists of rumour and speculation around products in development and most come with the refrain: "according to people familiar with the matter."

Dozens of websites exists only to write about these rumours and survive because the interest in Apple's newest products is so high.

Therefore news that Apple is not going to announce any products until the Autumn may seem like bad news for sites which rely on these rumours. No products means no rumours.

Inconceivable

The thing is, Apple is holding its annual and high-profile Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June and to hold that conference and not announce any new hardware, software or services seems inconceivable.

An update to Mac OS X is overdue and this is the least we can expect from WWDC with the launch of iOS 7 also likely.

But this is unlikely to be all Apple announces. If it left any new hardware announcement until August or September, that ten month gap in hardware announcements would be a major surprise.

The company thrived on secrecy during the 2007 to 2011 period. People were enthralled by Apple and what it was cooking up in Cupertino.

That interest seems to have waned of late, but Cooks' comments could help fuel a renewed sense of mystery around the company, and even see the return to the famous "One More Thing" reveal.