Tim Cook: Apple To “Double-Down” On Secrecy

         Apple's new CEO has no plans to relax Apple's grip on new product information.

Every company has its own little quirks: aspects of its operational philosophy – small or major – that give it its own personality. One of Apple’s quirks, if you will, is its devotion to secrecy. Apple keeps every detail of its operations – particularly upcoming products – locked down tight with a vehemence that some would call paranoia.

Some have thought that Apple’s secrecy was primarily a characteristic of the company’s late founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, and that with Tim Cook now at the helm, Apple’s philosophy on this might change. Any such hopes were dashed last night, however. Speaking at AllThingsD’s D10 Conference, Cook told Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, with whom he was sharing the stage, that “we’re going to double down on secrecy on products.” While the company would continue to increase its transparency with regard to things like the environment and supplier responsibility, secrecy on new products would remain paramount.

Later in the evening, during a discussion on Apple’s relationship with Facebook, Cook reiterated that “I feel strongly that being secretive on the product side of our business is so important.” When asked by Swisher about Apple’s practices regarding the purchase of new companies, Cook said that Apple does purchase other companies, but that these purchases are “not ones that we seek to make public.” While some acquisitions can’t be hidden, Cook said that “if I don’t have to [tell you about it] I don’t.”