Apple keeps mum

The other day, Rob Pegoraro at the Washington Post wrote a column about Apple’s tendency to keep its mouth shut rather than communicating with customers:

The Cupertino, Calif., corporation provides some of the best tech support in the business—no other major computer vendor makes it easier to sit down with a live employee and get help. But if you’re not at the Genius Bar at one of its stores, Apple can be one of the least communicative companies around.

And when Apple’s MobileMe online service melted down after its launch last month, subscribers might as well have been yelling at their monitors.

Here at StopBadware.org, we’ve found Apple to be equally uncommunicative. A couple months ago, when we notified them that we were preparing a badware alert about Apple Software Update, they quietly changed the product at the 11th hour but never contacted us about it. More recently, we’ve tried to contact several senior executives there to initiate an informal, low-pressure conversation about their disclosure practices, but our invitation has gone unanswered.

No one is questioning Apple’s ability to design a neat product or generate enthusiasm about a product launch. Failing to engage with the security and user communities, however, is a different thing entirely, and one in which Apple is coming up short. It’s time for the folks in Cupertino to change their (i)tune and start loosening their lips.