With the March delivery date of the new iPad approaching, Apple has blocked its bills of lading and other import records from public access, according to a report by Trade Privacy (https://tradeprivacy.com/import-trade-data-protection/index.php), a trade data protection company based in Reston, Virginia.
“Apple is the only major electronics company so far to have protected their import data,” Trade Privacy CEO Andrew Park told “Fortune” (http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/02/18/apple-conceals-ipad-freight-records/). “Similar companies like Microsoft, Sony and Google continue to import with their product data exposed to the public.”
According to Park, Apple was alarmed two years ago by media reports that predicted the arrival of the iPhone 3G before it had been announced, based on data from Import Genius. “Apple was caught off guard and took swift action to protect their trade-secrets from competitors,” he told “Fortune.”
