Like an overinflated pilates ball, Apple's long-standing culture of secrecy has sprung a few leaks.

The tight-lipped corporate giant recently made a move toward transparency when it lifted its iPhone non-disclosure agreement.

The unpopular policy prohibited iPhone application developers from discussing their coding techniques. Lifting the NDA may hurt Apple by exposing the inner workings of the iPhone to competitors like Google and Nokia. But increasingly open competitors and disgruntled developers may have forced Apple's hand.

"We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work," Apple wrote in an open letter to iPhone developers. "It has happened before .... However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software."

Since Steve Jobs retook the helm in 1997, Apple has operated with a level of secrecy comparable to the CIA. The company is famously unresponsive to press inquiries and frequently leaves even its own retail employees in the dark about upcoming products. But the NDA lift combined with other recent examples of openness suggest that Apple has been deviating from its old regime.

Another example where Apple caved in to the transparency trend involved MobileMe, its $99 internet service that got off to an extremely rocky start. For two weeks after MobileMe's July launch, an estimated 20,000 users could not access e-mail due to a server error. And for most of that time, Apple left those affected by the error in the dark – until journalists and customers clamored about the issue so much that the company started a blog devoted to updating users on MobileMe's progress.

Add to the list the recent Apple TV 2.2 and iPhone 2.1 software updates, for which Apple devoted entire web pages to detailing new features and bug fixes. Previously, when Apple released updates the descriptions were as vague as a single bulletpoint reading "Bug fixes." And again, people complained.

But in some ways, the corporation's modus operandi has benefited its sales:

Keeping everyone guessing about what's to come from Apple has generated an ubiquitous, constant buzz, serving as free, psychologically alluring advertising for the corporation.

So what gives with the openness?

"One of the things that's happening to Apple is that it's less able to keep secrets than it used to be, because it has a broader supply chain and broader distribution," said Roger Kay, an Endpoint Technologies analyst. "And because it's dealing with parties that need plans – partners as well as some customers – they need to disclose their plans."

Kay explained that Apple isn't alone anymore; the company is now working more closely with partners, such as iPhone developers, mobile carriers and so on. That inevitably forces the company to open up. He added that the iPhone NDA was especially strange, because a scientific community relies on communication to ensure development and innovation

\– "So people don't reinvent the wheel," he said.

But despite the corporation's recent demonstrations of being slightly more open,

Valleywag managing editor Owen Thomas said Apple doesn't have what it takes to be open. Thomas, who has been reporting on Apple for years, explained that Apple's recent moves toward transparency were purely for public relations.

Thomas noted that Apple launched the

MobileMe blog in reaction to complaints or criticism – and that this move doesn't reflect any fundamental change.

"I would say they're trying more actively to make up for pitfalls of their closedness," Thomas said in a phone interview. "They're recognizing that they have a problem but they haven't really changed the fundamental culture of the company; they're just putting a bunch of Band-Aids on the problem."

"I don't think they're becoming more open," he added. "They're trying to seem more open and being very clumsy at it."

Clumsy or not, the question remains: Will Apple learn from its mistakes? The next time Apple stumbles like it did with

MobileMe, will the company immediately launch a blog keeping customers informed on progress being made to fix a major problem? Will the company continue releasing detailed descriptions with each and every software update?

Neither Kay nor Thomas thinks so. But eerily enough, before this article's publication, Wired.com received an e-mail from Apple's PR department about Thursday night's Apple TV update. That never happens – usually, we e-mail Apple to ask about something and we never hear back, so we're forced to write "Apple did not return phone calls or e-mails for comment." Could this be the sign of a new, press-friendly regime down in Cupertino?

Nah, we didn't think so either.

*Photo: MacRonin47/Flickr *