My guess is that the memo, besides the marketing channels was also filtered through the legal department and they advised not to admit guilt as they probably expect to be sued at some point. Then a clear admission on their part would be slam dunk.
That is probably so, though if it came to being sued, I guess the plaintiffs' counsel would be ready to point out the flaws in that line of thinking.
On the other hand, Intel's stock price did recover in response, reversing the somewhat panicked or speculative drop earlier in the day, so perhaps this was mainly for the market.
