Nothing baffling about it - things leaked a lot when Steve Jobs was around. We all knew about the iPad before it was announced, we all knew they were making a phone, etails would leak about new MacBook Pros, etc. etc.
What we do see now that's different than it was 10 years ago are supply chain leaks. Apple has to have such a long ramp to manufacture it's first week worth of iPhones, that it's inevitable that some of the 10s of thousands of people in the supply chain will leak. Often for money, given the culture and pay scales in China...
I think there are difference. The leaks wasn't as detailed in SJ era, he will be pissed if things not go his way. Supply Chain were doing a lot more to cover up.
These days Tim takes a much more relax approach, comparatively speaking. You have employees that doesn't even know what you should or should not talk about. ( The Person responsible for NFC ).
Steve's era employees used to joke about Information leaking from the higher up management, which was true. Nowadays it seems to be going out everywhere.
What we do see now that's different than it was 10 years ago are supply chain leaks. Apple has to have such a long ramp to manufacture it's first week worth of iPhones, that it's inevitable that some of the 10s of thousands of people in the supply chain will leak. Often for money, given the culture and pay scales in China...