Apple's Strict Security Measures for Pre-Release Hardware
Leaked photo of iPad bolted to table (Source: Engadget)
from one of the first outside developers to work with the original iPad before its debut, describing the steps Apple went through to ensure secrecy. While some of the same details were
reported last year, the new account offers a few additional items of interest.
The criteria was that we had to have a room with no windows. They changed the locks on the door.
Three developers and I were the only people allowed to go in the room. Apple needed the names and social security numbers of the people who had access.
Apple needed to be able to drill a hole in the desk and chain the devices to desk. They used those bicycle cables.
They had these custom frames built around them so we couldn't even tell what the iPads looked like. We could plug into them so we could code to them and we could touch the screen and play with that, but we couldn't see the form factor.
Then they took pictures of the wood grain. If any pictures leaked out, they could trace it back to which desk they came from.
While those security measures were obviously quite strict, they were not enough to prevent several photos of the device in testing from leaking out the night before the iPad was unveiled.
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