The "consulting" thing is pure window-dressing IMO. I have several friends who work for Apple, and from talking to them (+ everything I've ever read about their culture) either you're in the tent or you're out. Outsiders have no meaningful role in their process.
It really makes me appreciate how valuable it is to have a physical mute button on every device which makes sound. Especially when it gets hung for a few seconds, and I have to manually mute from the task bar using the cursor.
