I think the way to understand this is to realize that this isn’t targeted at a Hacker News audience and they don’t care what we think. The world doesn’t revolve around us.

What’s the goal? Maybe, being able to work with partners without it being a secret project that will inevitably leak, resulting in inaccurate stories in the press. What are non-goals? Driving sales or creating anticipation, like a movie trailer or an Apple product launch.

So they have to announce something, but most people don’t read Hacker News and won’t even hear about it until later, and that’s fine with them.