That was a brilliant move on the part of Microsoft. Telling the public about it gave them a few critical advantages. The first is it obviously drove down hardware sales as loyalists held off on making a purchase in order to save money. They increased the public perception that Sony was desperate, or that their console was flopping hard. Consumers do not like taking expensive risks. Finally they moved the attention to the holiday season. Where they firmly wanted it even after the price cut by Sony during the summer.
Having the knowledge public only hurt Sony. I doubt Microsoft had to steal the information however. Sony is not a government. They have to manufacture in conjunction with third parties. They also need to unveil their plans to developers who were especially concerned. There was basically a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is what the new sku would do. Much of that evidence was available in public records. Changes in contracts with manufacturers. Changes in corporate finances are also public knowledge. Microsoft could do everything with sufficiently skilled observation and theory.
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