The iPhone, Apple, and Leaks

Late last night photos of a new firmware for the iPhone leaked on the web. They included a few interesting new features, but its even more interesting that this is the third leak of new products to come from Apple in the past few months. The two previous leaks coming in the form of the iPod Touch, and the iPod Nano, which was leaked to such an extent that a company had cases for it shipping before it was announced.
The iPhone, after being relatively leak-free for the first 9 months of its existence, has been plagued by leaks lately. Just as Apple, who are historically able to prevent leaks, were planning to release a new iPod Nano, its design leaked and was rapidly spread across the internet.
Apple has always been very good at leak prevention. Only recently has Apple ever experienced leaks of this scale and size. Previously, rumblings would disseminate that something new was coming. Now. full fledged leaks with photos and videos run rampant. Is this a sign of things to come? Will Apple become like the automotive companies, desperately trying, and failing, to prevent leaks, even going so far as to completely cover or disguise products in development. Only time will tell.

Update: The leaked version has been confirmed as a full-blown release copy, working perfectly on the iPhone.

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