Secrecy buys Apple:

  - Protection of IP until a few weeks from launch date
  - Rapt attention for what amounts to a PR presentation
  - Synchronized media buzz for new products
  - Strong early sales leading to additional media buzz

Hype of course, do you really not see that?

I don't think that is true, and I am sure Apple doesn't think that is true.

Whatever you say about Apple, they very carefully manage there brand, and part of that is keeping things secret, controlled releases of information, and building up large buzz before there regular announcements. It seems to be working for them.

A cool brand name they probably thought long and hard about before adopting it. A brand that will have resonance with the general population at the cost of alienating some developers. This is what 'crossroads between liberal arts and technology' is about; changing the pecking order in the technology business: Apple first, normal people second, developers a distant third.