This completely fits with what we know about Jobs, he felt laws didn't apply to him. I hesitate to say this is an "Apple" policy when it was Jobs calling another CEO and proposing a gentleman's agreement.
Why do you hesitate to say it was an Apple policy? The whole HR staff at both companies were involved. The fact that it was personally negotiated by two people at the top has no bearing on the fact that the companies were abiding by it.
These types of whole-company-on-board policies change departments permanently as well. If HR were willing to poach they would have ended up with "specialists" whose entire jobs were to basically "infiltrate" (either literally or externally at social functions) other companies, figure out who to poach and get them. None of those exist at those companies because of this policy.
I think that qualifies as industrial espionage. There are laws that forbid that behavior. And it is punishable with jail time. I don't know how many CEO's are willing to bet their necks doing that.
I hesitate because there is a difference in my mind between a stated policy and something that is discouraged from the top due to a phone conversation or one time email.
