Pros

It's one of the few places where you have the chance to change the world of technology, and work with some of the smartest people in the world. Anyone's pet project can wind up shipping to millions of Macs and iPhones - but you have to be great at what you do, and really be passionate about it.

Cons

Secrecy is the cult tool of management. While secrecy is beneficial during development, and helps make a big splash on introduction of a product - the paranoia still runs deep after the product has shipped. The default answer to any question is "say nothing publicly", and this philosophy is driven out of fear, even for purely technical discussions.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus secrecy where it matters, and let people who work on non-secret projects work in the open with developers. Your employees aren't stupid, and know how to not pre-announce products. Also, recent deals with phone and record companies are corrupting our soul, and are antithetical to serving our customer's needs first.