Steve Jobs (News - Alert) has outdone himself with the successful launch of the Apple iPhone at CES yesterday that continues to cause reverberations and major buzz today. What I would like to know is how Steve Jobs kept the iPhone so secret. In today's day and age where information leaks out faster than the NY Times reveals top secret anti-terrorism government programs — how was Steve Jobs able to keep the iPhone under wraps?

 

Apple has been known to sue bloggers that have divulged past Apple secrets, so how did we not see this coming? Sure there were rumors about the iPhone coming out at CES (News - Alert), but there were just as many rumors saying it wasn't going to happen. One site predicted an iPhone device made by Motorola back in 2005. Of course, that became the relatively failed Motorola (News - Alert) MotoROKR iTunes phone.

 

As part of this launch, Apple is partnering with Cingular for the phone service, as well as Google and Yahoo. That means three other companies were aware of the iPhone pre-launch and none of them divulged anything. What did Steve Jobs do to keep them quiet? The mainstream media — NY Times, FOX News, CNN, etc. all missed this juicy scoop. CNN/Time agreed to an NDA and did check it out before the launch. Of course, the mainstream media I can excuse for missing this big story, but the bloggers I cannot.

 

The Apple Blog and the Unofficial Apple Blog didn't get any "leaked" photos pre-launch (nor Engadget), nor did any bloggers access the FCC's (News - Alert) online site to find any Apple FCC filings. Nor did any blogger slueths find any info on the online U.S. patent Web site. What happened? Are the bloggers slipping or is Steve Jobs just smarter and craftier than the rest of us?