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Panic went ahead with its meeting with Apple scheduled for soon after the Macworld convention. Upfront, Phil Schiller explained, “You guys remember the last time we tried to meet with you? It was actually because we wanted you guys to make iTunes.” This landed heavily with Cabel and his associate. Then, the Apple bigwigs ushered the pair from Panic into a conference room. Soon after, Steve Jobs entered, sat down and plopped his feet on the table. Steve inquired about Audion’s progress and usage numbers. The developers obliged, and Steve returned his evaluation. “It's like you guys are a little push-cart going down the railroad tracks, and we’re a giant steam engine about to run you down,” Steve explained. “Do you have any other ideas for apps you want to work on?” Cabel replied, genuinely, “Well, we’ve got an idea for a digital photo management program.” To which, Steve said, “Yeah. Don’t do that one.” The other Apple execs in the room laughed as Cabel struggled to pick up on the hint that Apple was working on that very product, which would be called iPhoto.

After more questioning, Steve had the last word before exiting: “We want you guys to work with us. You guys have shown us that you can do a lot with a little. You guys kick ass. Your software totally kicks ass. Cabel, your marketing kicks ass. We think you do incredible work and we'd love to have you join us.” Cabel and his colleagues decided to stay independent, but the experience provided them with great stories to tell about having personally been the marks in a Steve Jobs magic show.

Steve Jobs ran Apple under a cloak of secrecy. He muscled partners to work overtime and city governments to issue zoning permits with few public hearings. Apple sued bloggers. After Steve returned to Apple in 1997 as interim CEO, he sent a companywide e-mail about how the company previously had trouble keeping information under wraps and that in advance of new products coming in the next few weeks, people needed to respect confidentiality requests, according to John Lilly, a venture capitalist who was at Apple at the time. A few days later, Apple’s financial chief sent a followup memo to staff saying that administrators had been tracking people’s account activity after Steve sent his message, and that four people forwarded the details to outsiders. They were immediately fired. Steve told Time in that same year that he followed rumors about Apple online every day. Later, he would contribute to that mill with his e-mails.

At a news conference in September 2010, the one where Apple typically announces new versions of the entire iPod line, the company did not talk about the iPod Classic. A concerned customer e-mailed Steve urging him not to kill the product. “We have no plans to,” Steve replied. At the next fall product event held in October 2011, Apple again did not address the iPod Classic, but it also did not say it would stop selling the product.

Steve’s brevity was able to cause confusion and keep the rumormongers guessing. Perhaps this was a strategic game he played. Fernando Valente wrote Steve in April 2010 asking if there was truth to speculation about an App Store for Apple computers and whether Mac OS X would require that all software be authorized through it. “Nope,” Steve offered. This was interpreted by many, including the publications that reported on it, as a denial from Steve that a Mac App Store was in the works. In fact, such a market was being developed and eventually was released, but OS X did not require authentication. The latter part of the question is what Steve was denying, but that apparently wasn’t clear in his terseness.

In hindsight, it wasn’t always clear whether Steve was purposely using misdirection or whether he simply did not have the full lay of the land. Before the Wall Street Journal reported that the Apple board was pondering the company’s CEO succession plan as Steve’s health declined, a reporter sought Steve’s comment via e-mail. “I think it’s hogwash,” he replied.