Just Call Me Jobs. Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs has been known to be the king of secrecy when it comes to all things Apple. Something slipping through his grasp is rare, but still he stays one step ahead of the competition. Does the secrecy of Apple generate free publicity?

Years back, AppleInsider and a few other Mac news outlets reported on the possible release of an external Firewire audio device for Apple’s Garageband software. The device was code named “Q97” or “Asteroid” and the specifications were quite elaborate. Once Apple got wind of this, AppleInsider and O’Grady’s Powerpage were subpoenaed in order to learn the identity of those who leaked the yet-to-be-announced Apple product.

While the Firewire audio device was never announced or heard from, Apple tied up loose ends at the company by weeding out those who were leaking rumors. Steve Jobs isn’t the type of person to have rumors about Apple floating around, because other companies could steal the idea, and since the type of products Apple works with need to be kept under wraps, all leaks of rumors need to be kept track of. That’s what Asteroid, err, Q97 did, making the first few steps in tracking leaks (and it did hit hard like an Asteroid). The idea of giving out false information to people and seeing where it shows up is nothing new in tracking leaks, but this method was used heavily throughout the development of the iPhone.

Actually, the timing of this false leak and the development of the iPhone are very close, which would explain why Apple would need to see how many holes would need to be plugged before the iPhone could be conceived.

Before I go on, let me ask you this: show me a Dell rumor site, or Nokia, Asus, Alieneware, Voodoo, Samsung, AMD, nVIdia, ATi, Intel rumor sites. You might find some, but compare them now to the massive amount of blogs, forums, and sites dedicated to Apple rumors.

Now, if Apple is so secretive, how can these rumor sites sustain a reader base? Because the basis of their claims, what powers most of the sites, is just a false leak to weed out those not totally loyal to Apple. The other part that sustains them is no longer rumors but analysis of the current market, what Apple has right now, and what emerging technologies are becoming widespread. if you find a touch screen then chances are you’ll find a rumor about new MacBooks with multi touch.

The massive amount of buzz generated by Apple-dedicated sites is partly due to a devotion to Apple and the intense level of secrecy Apple is surrounded by. Wired reports that Steve Jobs has been known to uphold this level of secrecy and hold key members to it. Employees were only told what they needed to know to finish their part of the project, having what they were working on in massive boxes, the less they knew the better. Throughout the entire production of the iPhone, Cingular didn’t even see or know what the final device would be until the very end of putting on the final touches. When Ron Johnson of Target was hired by Apple to work in Apple’s retail effort, Ron was asked to use an alias for quite some time which was listed in the phone directory.

It’s human nature to desire things we don’t yet know about it. It boggles our mind and Apple just feeds off of that. The intense desire to know what Apple has behind that black curtain or that next “Oh, and one more thing” has powered the Apple community greatly. So much so that the noise we generate wanting to know about this yet-to-be-announced white box of wonderment generates so much free marketing for Apple it’s unbelievable.

Yahoo! reports that 400 million dollars worth of free advertising may have been generated due to anticipation of the device. To put that in perspective, the film “300,” which broke box office records, had a budget of 60 million dollars. And that was just for the iPhone; who knows how much Apple has generated from other outlets like the iPod Halo effect (me being a prime example and you will find out why next week) or even people seeing a Mac and just saying wow. The aurora of a Mac grabs you in; my friend was hooked instantly on the iMacs because of Photobooth and iSight. Who knows, maybe Photobooth was conceived as a marketing campaign for new and simple-minded users.

Regardless of the secrecy Apple has employed and the massive amounts of buzz generated, one horrible marketing tool for Apple is the Beta of Leopard releases. Also, as Chris Howard mentions, what if there are no top secret features for Leopard? What we need to consider is that Leopard is all hype and no show right now, and that Apple is doing a massive internal Beta while only providing enough of Leopard for programming and to give some faith to us that is being worked on. With rumors circling around and being squashed about the delay of Leopard, a delay does not seem surprising due to lack of features, but we are over-hyping Leopard.