Apple

Key Ideas

1. 1

   The company, not just Jobs

   Many Apple histories are really Steve Jobs biographies. This book spans fifty years and several leadership eras, giving room to Wozniak, the Sculley period, the troubled mid-1990s, and the Cook era. The result should be a more balanced picture of how Apple's culture and strategy evolved when Jobs was absent, as well as when he was in charge.

2. 2

   Correcting the Apple mythology

   Apple's story has hardened into legend through decades of retelling. Pogue reportedly uses new interviews with insiders to test familiar anecdotes and set the record straight where popular versions are wrong or oversimplified. Readers who already know the standard narrative may find this the most interesting part of the book.

3. 3

   Failures as instructive as hits

   Alongside the Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, the book looks at products that stumbled, such as the Lisa, the Apple III and MobileMe. Seeing how a celebrated company misread markets or shipped half-finished ideas offers a useful corrective to the impression that Apple simply never misses.

4. 4

   Design married to engineering

   A recurring thread is Apple's insistence that technology should be simple and beautiful, not merely capable. Through interviews with designers and engineers, the book appears to show how that philosophy shaped decisions and working culture, including the intense all-night pushes that went into launching key products.

5. 5

   Challenges for the next fifty years

   The book closes by weighing the pressures Apple now faces as it enters its second half-century. Expect discussion of the forces that could threaten its dominance, though readers wanting a rigorous strategic or financial forecast should temper expectations for a celebratory anniversary history.