When technology companies like Apple and Samsung Electronics go to trial, one significant price they must pay is giving up some corporate secrets.

Take a 2010 email written by Steven P. Jobs, the former chief executive of Apple, who died in 2011. Samsung lawyers obtained it as evidence to present to jurors. In the memo, which Mr. Jobs prepared for a meeting, he provides an outline that reveals several tidbits about how the secretive Apple ticks.

Here are some lessons learned from it:

APPLE’S ELITE CLUB

In the e-mail, Mr. Jobs explains the context for the meeting: “primary reason for this Top 100 meeting – you will hear about what we’re doing in each presentation.” Here, Mr. Jobs confirms a rumor that was previously detailed in Fortune magazine: Apple hosts a top-secret meeting for top employees, referred to as the Top 100. At the meeting, held in undisclosed locations away from Apple’s campus, top executives go over the company’s plans for the coming years.

APPLE’S HOLY WAR WITH GOOGLE

Apple executives and people who follow the company have often said that Apple generally does not care what its competitors are doing — that it releases products when the technology is just right to delight its consumers. But in the e-mail, Mr. Jobs explicitly acknowledges that Apple faces tough competition and is particularly behind Google in Internet services like email and calendars. So he declares 2011 a “Holy War” with Google — the same year Apple’s iCloud was released.

APPLE’S PRODUCT TIMELINE

In his outline, Mr. Jobs summarizes hardware for the iPhone 5, which was released in 2012. That shows Apple generally knows what it plans to release at least two years in advance. So while some consumers eagerly anticipate an iPhone 6, which is rumored to be released this year, Apple is probably already busy tinkering with an iPhone 7.

APPLE’S LOCK-IN STRATEGY

Apple generally offers proprietary software and services that run only on Apple hardware. For example, iMessage is Apple’s free text messaging service offered only for iPhones and iPads. Analysts have called this approach Apple’s “lock-in” strategy to keep customers loyal, a term that has been described as cynical because it has a connotation of imprisonment. But in his e-mail, even Mr. Jobs recognizes that Apple’s goal with its cloud services is to “tie all of our products together, so we further lock customers into our ecosystem.”

APPLE’S TV STRATEGY

Mr. Jobs offers some clues about what could be ahead for the Apple TV set-top box. He says Apple’s plan is to “make a great ‘must have’ accessory for iOS devices,” suggesting that the iPhone and iPad could play a stronger role in future versions of the Apple TV (currently devices can be used to stream or remotely control content on the television). He also says Apple wants to form partnerships with content providers like NBC and CBS.

Though this note about the Apple TV is vague, it is more modest than what Mr. Jobs told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, in the book “Steve Jobs.” He said he wanted to make a TV set with an extremely simple user interface that would synchronize with multiple devices and iCloud. “I finally cracked it,” he said.

蘋果告三星 機密電郵曝光

紐約時報報導，蘋果和三星這樣彼此競爭激烈的科技公司打官司時，必須付出的代價，就是會暴露公司的機密。在蘋果控告三星侵犯智慧型手機專利的案件中，蘋果已故執行長賈伯斯寫給公司內部一百名高級幹部的電郵，被三星的律師團當成證據，信中透露許多蘋果的最高機密，包括向Google發動「聖戰」。

三星律師團取得賈伯斯2010年，也就是他去世前一年發出的一封電郵，內容是他為蘋果「一百大幹部」秘密會議準備的大綱，會中將討論蘋果未來幾年的計畫。財星雜誌曾報導蘋果這項最高機密會議，據稱刻意在遠離總部的隱密地點進行。這是首度有證據證實此傳聞。

另外，雖然蘋果高層常說，他們不在乎對手在做什麼，但實情恐怕不然。賈伯斯在電郵中承認，蘋果遭遇Google的強力競爭，而且在電郵和行事曆等網路服務方面落後Google。因此，賈伯斯宣布，2011年蘋果要向Google發動「聖戰」。同一年，蘋果推出iCloud。

賈伯斯說，必須「趕上我們落後Android的地方」。他指的是通知、網路共享和語音，他並指出，蘋果可能以Siri功能大幅超越Android。

賈伯斯在電郵中也說明了iPhone 5的硬體。蘋果在2012年推出這款手機，顯示蘋果內部通常提早兩年知道接下來要推出的產品。因此，蘋果迷期盼蘋果今年推出iPhone 6，蘋果內部可能已忙著為iPhone 7做準備了。

蘋果的軟體和服務通常只能在蘋果硬體產品上使用，例如免費的簡訊服務iMessage只能在iPhone和iPad上使用。分析家認為這是蘋果要顧客對蘋果保持忠誠的「閉鎖」策略，賈伯斯在電郵中也承認，蘋果雲端服務的目標是「把我們的所有產品綁在一起，更加把我們的顧客鎖在我們的生態系統中」。

賈伯斯也為未來的Apple TV機上盒提供了線索。他說，蘋果的計畫是「推出iOS各項裝置的必要配件」，暗示iPhone和iPad可能在未來的Apple TV上扮演更重要角色。

原文參照：
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/email-from-steve-jobs-hints-at-how-apple-ticks/

2014-04-09．聯合報．A15．國際．編譯田思怡