If there is one company in the world that is as good at getting their way as Apple is, we certainly haven’t heard anything about them. Google has arguably the most influence over the tech industry and the direction that it is taking, and if it doesn’t like you then you are going to want to get out of its way as a lot of companies (mainly Samsung and HTC) have learned over the last year or two.

Their dominance over the tech industry comes from within the company, and recently there has been some news showing just how far Apple is willing to go to retain that dominance with their employees. In a book called “Inside Apple” the author expands on just how far they are willing to go to protect the privacy of the products that are in development in order to compete with the likes of Google.

Inside Apple: The Book

According to the book and sources who have confirmed it, when you are an engineer at Apple you have to work on fake products before you can move on to the actual products which are scheduled to be released. Of course when the engineers are working on the products they have no idea when they are fake, and they’re also not given any sort of “welcoming party” once they graduate to making real products. It is just something that happens once the employee can be trusted.

In the book, the author also expands on the hiring process for some of the higher-up engineers. Although it is pretty obvious that it wouldn’t be a walk in the park, apparently for some people – the entire interviewing process can take up to 9 months to complete!

It is pretty hard to under-emphasize how important the secrecy of iPhones and tablets are when they are being developed, and this is how Apple is able to pull it off; by trusting only the employees who have been with them for a long time.