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Apple من الداخل: في كواليس الشركة التي غزت العالم
يكتشف آدم لاشينسكي التكتيكات والإستراتيجيّات القياديّة التي أتاحت لستيف جوبز وشركته تحقيق النجاح تلو الآخر، وإبتكار سلسلةٍ من المنتجات غزت العالم، إلى ذلك، هو ينفرد بعرض العديد من المقابلات التي تكشف معلومات جديدة حول عبقريّة آبل، وخطّتها لخوض مرحلة ما بعد ستيف جوبز.
ومع أن هذا الكتاب، كما يشير اسمه، يلقي نظرة من الداخل على آبل، وهي شركة واحدة محدّدة بعالمها من المورّدين والمستثمرين والموظّفين والمنافسين، فالدروس والمبادئ حول جوبز والريادة وتصميم المنتجات والتسويق تبقى عالميّة، مبادئ تخالف السائد لكلّ من يطمح إلى إضفاء بعضٍ من سحر آبل على شركته أو مساره المهنيّ أو مجهوده الخلاّق.
"كتاب غنيّ بالشهادات الحيّة والتحليلات الثاقبة، وهي بمثابة دروس ليس عن آبل فحسب، بل عن الريادة الإبداعيّة في عالم الأعمال بصورة عامّة"... "والتر آيزاكسون، كتاب سيرة "ستيف جوبز".
ومع أن هذا الكتاب، كما يشير اسمه، يلقي نظرة من الداخل على آبل، وهي شركة واحدة محدّدة بعالمها من المورّدين والمستثمرين والموظّفين والمنافسين، فالدروس والمبادئ حول جوبز والريادة وتصميم المنتجات والتسويق تبقى عالميّة، مبادئ تخالف السائد لكلّ من يطمح إلى إضفاء بعضٍ من سحر آبل على شركته أو مساره المهنيّ أو مجهوده الخلاّق.
"كتاب غنيّ بالشهادات الحيّة والتحليلات الثاقبة، وهي بمثابة دروس ليس عن آبل فحسب، بل عن الريادة الإبداعيّة في عالم الأعمال بصورة عامّة"... "والتر آيزاكسون، كتاب سيرة "ستيف جوبز".
205 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2011
363 people are currently reading
9,702 people want to read
About the author
Adam Lashinsky
3books29followersAdam Lashinsky is a Senior Editor At Large for Fortune Magazine, where he covers technology and finance. He is also a Fox News contributor and frequent speaker and moderator. Prior to joining Fortune, Lashinsky was a columnist for TheStreet.com and the San Jose Mercury News. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 302 reviews
July 19, 2019
Thought a little old but still very significant in terms of information on how does Apple make it happen. You can certainly know a lot about the company and various of its. Adam has done a very commendable job that will certainly inspire people.
August 6, 2014
I read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs before I read Inside Apple. Taken together, both books create a fuller understanding of Apple than each on its own. From this book, I learned a lot more about Apple as a business.
I think the book is well done considering no Apple senior manager (and probably no current employee) would agree to an interview for the book. Adam Lashinsky has drawn extensively from a wide variety of credible sources to overcome that. But I also think it would have been a more comprehensive and engaging book if such access had been granted. Then again, this behaviour was entirely consistent with the portrait painted of this most secretive of companies.
Most surprising, for me, is that a company that places so much emphasis on product quality and customer experience is not a great place to work. I am not sure why I expected it to be...well...more fun, in the sense of all these brilliant, passionate people creating marketplace magic together. But the Apple that emerges in Lashinsky's book is a high-stress nose-to-the-grindstone, need-to-know culture where the focus is exclusively on a narrow range of activities associated with one's current work assignment. Talk about Apple, to anyone, even other employees, and you're done. Scary.
I appreciated the effort the author took to discuss Apple's future without its powerful founder. Already, some of what he predicted - turnover in the Executive ranks - has come to pass with the departure of two top Executives in recent months. It will be very interesting to see if Apple's approach to business can endure without its brilliant founder.
I recommend this book for any student of business, especially those interested in employee culture and branding.
I think the book is well done considering no Apple senior manager (and probably no current employee) would agree to an interview for the book. Adam Lashinsky has drawn extensively from a wide variety of credible sources to overcome that. But I also think it would have been a more comprehensive and engaging book if such access had been granted. Then again, this behaviour was entirely consistent with the portrait painted of this most secretive of companies.
Most surprising, for me, is that a company that places so much emphasis on product quality and customer experience is not a great place to work. I am not sure why I expected it to be...well...more fun, in the sense of all these brilliant, passionate people creating marketplace magic together. But the Apple that emerges in Lashinsky's book is a high-stress nose-to-the-grindstone, need-to-know culture where the focus is exclusively on a narrow range of activities associated with one's current work assignment. Talk about Apple, to anyone, even other employees, and you're done. Scary.
I appreciated the effort the author took to discuss Apple's future without its powerful founder. Already, some of what he predicted - turnover in the Executive ranks - has come to pass with the departure of two top Executives in recent months. It will be very interesting to see if Apple's approach to business can endure without its brilliant founder.
I recommend this book for any student of business, especially those interested in employee culture and branding.
January 23, 2012
This book was supposed to be a study of Apple from a business perspective, but it fails in almost every regard. The only new information is about Apple University, and that information was already published as a Kindle Single months ago.
There are also some very strange issues and inaccuracies in the book which are very illuminating, and I'll just go straight to quotes from some of the troublesome parts that justify my one star review.
On pg 163 "Technology wonks like to gripe that Apple's products look more beautiful than they are. [Okay, a really bad sentence, but let's move on.] In other words, Apple is accused of sacrificing mechanical design for industrial design. It's a debatable point, as these same critics typically will say that Apple's less-than-perfect products are still better than anyone else's."
So let me get this straight. People that follow tech news - sorry, "technology wonks" - think that Apple's computers are "less-than-perfect" and have limited "mechanical design" but these "same critics" say that Apple's products are "still better than anyone else's"? How did this get past an editor?
Just two pages later... pg 165 "Philanthropy and a spreadsheet program to compete with Microsoft are just some of the tea leaves that optimists about Apple's future bring up when they talk about the company after Jobs." Yes, that's actually printed in the book. Like other Apple optimists, I thought they were going straight to hell until they announced a new philanthropy initiative. That really reassured me that the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 are going to be worth my money. Here's to hoping they make an Excel clone to compete with an increasingly irrelevant Microsoft, because that's my indicator for how great the new Macbook Air is going to be. Also, why even try to compete with Microsoft? Apple is the most valuable company in the world. Why does it need to try to compete with Microsoft? Apple should be more concerned about competing with itself, or at most Google.
This is a bit of a smaller gripe, but it's evidence that the book is filled with a lot of fluff and nonsense. On pg 206-207 "Apple very likely will stop being an "insanely great" company. This will happen gradually, perhaps imperceptibly. A product will fail to delight. A member of the senior management will depart, and then another. It will confront a host of problems..." I could stop here and try to make a point, but Lashinsky does it for me in the next paragraph: "Yet forecasting Apple's fall from otherworldly status is beside the point. Apple failed plenty of times before, including during the second reign of Steve Jobs."
I don't know what makes a company "insanely great" to Lashinsky, but as an accountant, I look at its profit. So let's just assume that an "insanely great" company is, like Apple, hugely profitable. Now, all of the events that Lashinksy lists are going to happen no matter what. There will very likely be an Apple product that "fails to delight", the senior management will inevitably change, and because it's a business that operates in a mutable world, it will confront a host of problems. These three events happen almost every year. All of those events could occur in the next six months, and Apple could still be an "insanely great" company at the end of 2012. Why print this?
There are also some very strange issues and inaccuracies in the book which are very illuminating, and I'll just go straight to quotes from some of the troublesome parts that justify my one star review.
On pg 163 "Technology wonks like to gripe that Apple's products look more beautiful than they are. [Okay, a really bad sentence, but let's move on.] In other words, Apple is accused of sacrificing mechanical design for industrial design. It's a debatable point, as these same critics typically will say that Apple's less-than-perfect products are still better than anyone else's."
So let me get this straight. People that follow tech news - sorry, "technology wonks" - think that Apple's computers are "less-than-perfect" and have limited "mechanical design" but these "same critics" say that Apple's products are "still better than anyone else's"? How did this get past an editor?
Just two pages later... pg 165 "Philanthropy and a spreadsheet program to compete with Microsoft are just some of the tea leaves that optimists about Apple's future bring up when they talk about the company after Jobs." Yes, that's actually printed in the book. Like other Apple optimists, I thought they were going straight to hell until they announced a new philanthropy initiative. That really reassured me that the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 are going to be worth my money. Here's to hoping they make an Excel clone to compete with an increasingly irrelevant Microsoft, because that's my indicator for how great the new Macbook Air is going to be. Also, why even try to compete with Microsoft? Apple is the most valuable company in the world. Why does it need to try to compete with Microsoft? Apple should be more concerned about competing with itself, or at most Google.
This is a bit of a smaller gripe, but it's evidence that the book is filled with a lot of fluff and nonsense. On pg 206-207 "Apple very likely will stop being an "insanely great" company. This will happen gradually, perhaps imperceptibly. A product will fail to delight. A member of the senior management will depart, and then another. It will confront a host of problems..." I could stop here and try to make a point, but Lashinsky does it for me in the next paragraph: "Yet forecasting Apple's fall from otherworldly status is beside the point. Apple failed plenty of times before, including during the second reign of Steve Jobs."
I don't know what makes a company "insanely great" to Lashinsky, but as an accountant, I look at its profit. So let's just assume that an "insanely great" company is, like Apple, hugely profitable. Now, all of the events that Lashinksy lists are going to happen no matter what. There will very likely be an Apple product that "fails to delight", the senior management will inevitably change, and because it's a business that operates in a mutable world, it will confront a host of problems. These three events happen almost every year. All of those events could occur in the next six months, and Apple could still be an "insanely great" company at the end of 2012. Why print this?
February 5, 2012
Adam Lashinsky is an Editor at Large for FORTUNE magazine, where he has reported on silicon valley for more than a decade. His new book, Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired � and Secretive � Company Really Works, reveals what it is really like to work at Apple. It must have felt like a kick in the stomach for Lashinsky, when Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs was released, because the two books cover a lot of similar ground. But they approach it from different perspectives. Isaacson, necessarily, focused on the CEO and founder, Jobs. Lashinsky didn’t have the access Isaacson got and has to approach from multiple perspectives and usually lower on the totem pole. Lashinsky’s book is more for learning about what it is like for the average engineer to work at Apple.
Also, being completed, and published, after the death of Steve Jobs, the book dedicates a lot of thought to what Apple will be like after Steve Jobs, by looking at the key figures at the company (Tim Cooke, Scott Forstall, and Jonathan Ive).
The book is very interesting and hard to put down. It does suffer a little, in the reading, if the reader has already read Isaacson’s book, but the two do work well together, and I recommend reading both to gain a better understanding of Apple.
The Apple depicted in this book is unlike the picture often depicted of Silicon Valley companies like Google, where work seems like a party and employees are spoiled rotten. Apple seems to be a place that is heaven for those that want nothing more than to be completely dedicated to their work. It seems like a tough place to work, but a place where one can be part of things that make a difference.
Also, being completed, and published, after the death of Steve Jobs, the book dedicates a lot of thought to what Apple will be like after Steve Jobs, by looking at the key figures at the company (Tim Cooke, Scott Forstall, and Jonathan Ive).
The book is very interesting and hard to put down. It does suffer a little, in the reading, if the reader has already read Isaacson’s book, but the two do work well together, and I recommend reading both to gain a better understanding of Apple.
The Apple depicted in this book is unlike the picture often depicted of Silicon Valley companies like Google, where work seems like a party and employees are spoiled rotten. Apple seems to be a place that is heaven for those that want nothing more than to be completely dedicated to their work. It seems like a tough place to work, but a place where one can be part of things that make a difference.
February 17, 2012
If you want insight to the perplexing secrecy of what goes on in Cupertino, this book shares information about how meetings were run with designers at the forefront, how employees are so dedicated to working on Apple projects that they put in long hours even through New Year’s Day, and how Apple was such an intense environment that it even pitted employees against employees to deliver products that would awe in a timeframe that would shock the competition.
The book begins with avery unique organizational chart showing how the CEO position is at the center of the company and not the top. This is just the start of what sets Apple apart from others.
Steve Jobs impacted more than just computer technology. He made incredible accomplishments in four areas: computers,music, film, and communications. He hada role in every aspect of the company from product development to marketing even proofing e-mails sent out to Apple customers.
Jobs� was rooted in the very core of everything Apple. His style and insight defined the culture and shaped how employees reacted. However, Apple was not an exciting and funplace for relaxing computer software geeks. The typical office day was incredibly demanding with the potential for negative feedback at every step and brutal confrontations for those lucky enough to have input.
Suddenly, new walls would be constructed and if your employee badge would not let you in this area any longer, you were not part of the new secret project. Employees signed agreements that they could not talk about projects even with their families or they would not only be immediately terminated, but prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
These precautions are inpart because Apple does not focus on making money or taking on every new project idea. Apple definitely does make money, but their goal is to make great products. Apple also has a very different approach to ideas. Instead of trying to make everything or start a million new projects, they focus on what they do very well. This makes them stand apart in a very competitive industry. They also share this mindset with the actual jobs staff members perform. Instead of being promoted and trying to climb up the corporate ladder, Apple employees are hired to do what they do best –and only that.
Apple also ensures that things get done on time through assigning project tasks to a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI). Instead of two or three people working on something, one name goes down and is responsiblefor it.
Tim Cook and Jony Ive also made significant contributions to Apple. These members learned early on how to complement Steve Jobs and not compete with his vision.
Overall, Inside Apple gives an intimate look at what it is to work at 1 Infinite Loop and how employees were a part of a company that impacted so many.
The book begins with avery unique organizational chart showing how the CEO position is at the center of the company and not the top. This is just the start of what sets Apple apart from others.
Steve Jobs impacted more than just computer technology. He made incredible accomplishments in four areas: computers,music, film, and communications. He hada role in every aspect of the company from product development to marketing even proofing e-mails sent out to Apple customers.
Jobs� was rooted in the very core of everything Apple. His style and insight defined the culture and shaped how employees reacted. However, Apple was not an exciting and funplace for relaxing computer software geeks. The typical office day was incredibly demanding with the potential for negative feedback at every step and brutal confrontations for those lucky enough to have input.
Suddenly, new walls would be constructed and if your employee badge would not let you in this area any longer, you were not part of the new secret project. Employees signed agreements that they could not talk about projects even with their families or they would not only be immediately terminated, but prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
These precautions are inpart because Apple does not focus on making money or taking on every new project idea. Apple definitely does make money, but their goal is to make great products. Apple also has a very different approach to ideas. Instead of trying to make everything or start a million new projects, they focus on what they do very well. This makes them stand apart in a very competitive industry. They also share this mindset with the actual jobs staff members perform. Instead of being promoted and trying to climb up the corporate ladder, Apple employees are hired to do what they do best –and only that.
Apple also ensures that things get done on time through assigning project tasks to a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI). Instead of two or three people working on something, one name goes down and is responsiblefor it.
Tim Cook and Jony Ive also made significant contributions to Apple. These members learned early on how to complement Steve Jobs and not compete with his vision.
Overall, Inside Apple gives an intimate look at what it is to work at 1 Infinite Loop and how employees were a part of a company that impacted so many.
March 29, 2012
INSIDE APPLE: How America's Most Admired--And Secretive--Company Really Works, by Adam Lashinsky. Published January 2012 by Business Plus of the Hachette Book Group. At slightly over 200 pages this is a clear, fast, easy read, for which I am always grateful.
I enjoyed this book and, more importantly, was educated. The author gives an excellent analysis of what Apple has been and poses thoughtful questions as to what it may be. A lot of food for thought.
It is a somewhat generalized insight into Apple Corporation structure and methods, more about Apple and less about Steve Jobs, though he can hardly be ignored in any work about Apple. The business side of the company made the 500 page instant classic biography STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson (my comments on this fine read here), equally interesting to me. All things Apple have received more attention since the death of the iconic CEO Steve Jobs in October 2011. The stock price has moved from $378 to $600 despite the question as to whether Apple can continue to be successful without Jobs' singular oversight. So far so good.
I say the book is generalized because Apple operates with considerable secrecy. Thus a book about Inside Apple is no easy feat. It teems with quotes from mostly unnamed ex-Apple employees. 'Ex-software engineer', 'former executive of such-and-such', etc. I'd be curious to know how the author found so many ex-employees to start with. As the author is a senior editor with Fortune Magazine and frequent contributor on Fox News business shows who has written about Apple in the past, I'm sure he had his sources.
Some of the ten chapters are:
Chp. 1: Rethink Leadership:
Jobs was rude, demanding, dictatorial, intuitive, and insightful, all to the nth degree. IMO Apple succeeded because of him and in spite of him. A few things Lashinsky says about Apple:
"Apple is secretive at a time when the prevailing trend in business is toward transparency. Far from being empowered, its people operate within a narrow band of responsibility." (p. 7)
"Apple flouts yet another piece of modern management's love of efficiency: It consistently leaves money on the table at a moment when profits are king and quarterly earnings exert a tyrannical sway over its fellow publicly traded companies." (p. 7)
"Jobs... ...micromanaged to a shockingly high degree and to an amazingly low level in the organization." (p. 19)
"...a "productive narcissist"", "obsessive", "...infused the company with his own idiosyncracies".
Chp. 2: Embrace Secrecy:
If I told you anything about this I'd have to kill you, as the not very funny quip goes. Think extreme secrecy, internally and externally. The author notes that this works a lot better than a lot of failed pre-announcements and slipped release dates that have plagued other companies.
Chp. 3: Focus Obsessively:
Just think corporate anal retentive (excessively orderly and fussy).
"Obsessing over details and bring a Buddhist level of focus to a narrow assortment of offerings sets Apple apart from its competitors." (p. 51)
I'm not sure what Lashinsky has against other computer manufacturers but while discussing Apple's attention to detail he says:
"Evoking a feeling is an extraordinary act for a device maker, let alone a packaging designer working for a device maker. (Try to imagine a Dell laptop evoking a feeling of any kind, other than frustration.)" (P. 51)
I found the disparaging remark memorable in its uselessness and wondered what personal grudge the author had against Dell. I find all modern-day packaging fairly innovative. Why single out any computer manufacturer?
Make everything, control everything. Jobs: "Apple's the only company that has everything under one roof. There's no other company that could make a MacBook Air and the reason is that not only do we control the hardware, but we control the operating system." (p. 57)
Chp. 4: Stay Start-Up Hungry:
"When Steve Jobs rejoined Apple in 1997, it looked like big companies everywhere." "The company had grown bureaucratic..." ...fiefdoms had arisen, each with budgeting powers and sometimes-competing agendas." "From the moment Jobs returned, the corporate culture changed. Now it would move in unison, fiefdoms would be banished, and employees would focus on whatever it was they did best--and nothing else. To this day graphics runs graphics; logistics controls logistics; finance worries about the bottom line." (p. 65)
The notion of responsibility is enshrined at Apple in a Company acronym, the DRI. It stands for "Directly Responsible Individual," and it is the person on any given assignment who will be called on the carpet if something isn't done right." (p. 67)
"...he [Jobs] also snuffed out that standby of managerial power, the "P&L"." [Profit and loss statement.] (p. 68)
Can you imagine not having a departmental budget? At the corporation where I worked we had a departmental budget and, not unlike a government agency, we made sure we spent it all in any given year so we could justify that much or more in the next year. I suppose if you zealously believe in your products and have the focus and commitment to make them work then you will take the risk to spend the money necessary to fulfill them, rather than produce only as much as you think you can frugally afford. What a novel idea.
Page 74 summarizes the corporate philosophy: "Put these corporate attributes together--clear direction, individual accountability, a sense of urgency, constant feedback, clarity of mission--and you begin to have a sense of Apple's values."
A-players: "...a former Apple executive, remembered a more concise Steve-ism on the subject of talent: "A players hire A players, and B players hire C players. We want only A players here."" (p. 77)
Insularity. Small teams, like a start-up.
After four chapters are we seeing notable characteristics?
Micromanagement. (Shudder that managers should have their fingers on the pulse of their products.)
Extreme obsessiveness, focus, and attention to detail.
Secrecy and insularity, internally and externally.
Small teams.
Individual responsibility, the DRI.
Product dictates finance, not vice versa.
A-players.
A-players.
A-players.
Chp. 5: Hire Disciples:
1998, enter Tim Cook, now 51 yrs old, CEO and a member of the Apple Board of Directors.
"The new recruit quickly closed all of Apple's factories, opting instead to mimic industry leader Dell by outsourcing manufacturing." (p. 95) (Yes, the author said something nice about Dell.)
"Inventory, Cook would later explain, "is fundamentally evil. You want to manage it like you're in the dairy business: If it gets past its freshness date, you have a problem."" (p. 95)
This sounds similar to just-in-time inventory management. Not unique to Apple. Efficient, but requiring, oh my, focus and attention to detail.
1992, enter Jonathan Ive, now 45 yrs old, THE industrial designer at Apple.
Entire career with Jobs and/or Apple, Scott James Forstall, about 43 yrs old, now SVP iOS Software.
Do we see a trend here? Youth, longevity with Apple. See the official corporate bios of these and others mentioned in the book here.
Chp. 6: Own Your Message:
"As part of its plan to debut, market, and sell each product, Apple decides who will speak about it and to whom, what the talking points will be, and which members of the press will be blessed with coveted interviews. The precise words Apple uses to communicate its message are repeated so many times that everyone, internally and externally, can recite them by heart.
The hallmarks of the Apple product message are, as with so much at Apple, simplicity and clarity." (p. 116)
"Consistency of message helps build customer loyalty." "...the best messaging is clear, concise, and repeated..."
Chp. 7: Overwhelm Friends/Dominate Foes:
"Arguably because Apple did things its own way, forging a business model that is unique in so many ways, Apple also institutionalized a culture of playing by its own rules. Partners of all types, from suppliers to consultants to collaborators, find out soon enough that Apple's playbook is the only one that matters." (p. 143)
Chp. 8: Plan for After Your Successor
What would Steve do?
What will Apple do?
Chp. 9: Inspire Imitators
Chp. 10: One More Thing
'Nuff said.
If you are interested in what has made one of the most successful corporations of modern times work, this is book for you. It held my attention from start to finish. I recommend it.
Related articles for those all-things-Apple obsessed, suggested by WordPress, which I haven't read.
I enjoyed this book and, more importantly, was educated. The author gives an excellent analysis of what Apple has been and poses thoughtful questions as to what it may be. A lot of food for thought.
It is a somewhat generalized insight into Apple Corporation structure and methods, more about Apple and less about Steve Jobs, though he can hardly be ignored in any work about Apple. The business side of the company made the 500 page instant classic biography STEVE JOBS by Walter Isaacson (my comments on this fine read here), equally interesting to me. All things Apple have received more attention since the death of the iconic CEO Steve Jobs in October 2011. The stock price has moved from $378 to $600 despite the question as to whether Apple can continue to be successful without Jobs' singular oversight. So far so good.
I say the book is generalized because Apple operates with considerable secrecy. Thus a book about Inside Apple is no easy feat. It teems with quotes from mostly unnamed ex-Apple employees. 'Ex-software engineer', 'former executive of such-and-such', etc. I'd be curious to know how the author found so many ex-employees to start with. As the author is a senior editor with Fortune Magazine and frequent contributor on Fox News business shows who has written about Apple in the past, I'm sure he had his sources.
Some of the ten chapters are:
Chp. 1: Rethink Leadership:
Jobs was rude, demanding, dictatorial, intuitive, and insightful, all to the nth degree. IMO Apple succeeded because of him and in spite of him. A few things Lashinsky says about Apple:
"Apple is secretive at a time when the prevailing trend in business is toward transparency. Far from being empowered, its people operate within a narrow band of responsibility." (p. 7)
"Apple flouts yet another piece of modern management's love of efficiency: It consistently leaves money on the table at a moment when profits are king and quarterly earnings exert a tyrannical sway over its fellow publicly traded companies." (p. 7)
"Jobs... ...micromanaged to a shockingly high degree and to an amazingly low level in the organization." (p. 19)
"...a "productive narcissist"", "obsessive", "...infused the company with his own idiosyncracies".
Chp. 2: Embrace Secrecy:
If I told you anything about this I'd have to kill you, as the not very funny quip goes. Think extreme secrecy, internally and externally. The author notes that this works a lot better than a lot of failed pre-announcements and slipped release dates that have plagued other companies.
Chp. 3: Focus Obsessively:
Just think corporate anal retentive (excessively orderly and fussy).
"Obsessing over details and bring a Buddhist level of focus to a narrow assortment of offerings sets Apple apart from its competitors." (p. 51)
I'm not sure what Lashinsky has against other computer manufacturers but while discussing Apple's attention to detail he says:
"Evoking a feeling is an extraordinary act for a device maker, let alone a packaging designer working for a device maker. (Try to imagine a Dell laptop evoking a feeling of any kind, other than frustration.)" (P. 51)
I found the disparaging remark memorable in its uselessness and wondered what personal grudge the author had against Dell. I find all modern-day packaging fairly innovative. Why single out any computer manufacturer?
Make everything, control everything. Jobs: "Apple's the only company that has everything under one roof. There's no other company that could make a MacBook Air and the reason is that not only do we control the hardware, but we control the operating system." (p. 57)
Chp. 4: Stay Start-Up Hungry:
"When Steve Jobs rejoined Apple in 1997, it looked like big companies everywhere." "The company had grown bureaucratic..." ...fiefdoms had arisen, each with budgeting powers and sometimes-competing agendas." "From the moment Jobs returned, the corporate culture changed. Now it would move in unison, fiefdoms would be banished, and employees would focus on whatever it was they did best--and nothing else. To this day graphics runs graphics; logistics controls logistics; finance worries about the bottom line." (p. 65)
The notion of responsibility is enshrined at Apple in a Company acronym, the DRI. It stands for "Directly Responsible Individual," and it is the person on any given assignment who will be called on the carpet if something isn't done right." (p. 67)
"...he [Jobs] also snuffed out that standby of managerial power, the "P&L"." [Profit and loss statement.] (p. 68)
Can you imagine not having a departmental budget? At the corporation where I worked we had a departmental budget and, not unlike a government agency, we made sure we spent it all in any given year so we could justify that much or more in the next year. I suppose if you zealously believe in your products and have the focus and commitment to make them work then you will take the risk to spend the money necessary to fulfill them, rather than produce only as much as you think you can frugally afford. What a novel idea.
Page 74 summarizes the corporate philosophy: "Put these corporate attributes together--clear direction, individual accountability, a sense of urgency, constant feedback, clarity of mission--and you begin to have a sense of Apple's values."
A-players: "...a former Apple executive, remembered a more concise Steve-ism on the subject of talent: "A players hire A players, and B players hire C players. We want only A players here."" (p. 77)
Insularity. Small teams, like a start-up.
After four chapters are we seeing notable characteristics?
Micromanagement. (Shudder that managers should have their fingers on the pulse of their products.)
Extreme obsessiveness, focus, and attention to detail.
Secrecy and insularity, internally and externally.
Small teams.
Individual responsibility, the DRI.
Product dictates finance, not vice versa.
A-players.
A-players.
A-players.
Chp. 5: Hire Disciples:
1998, enter Tim Cook, now 51 yrs old, CEO and a member of the Apple Board of Directors.
"The new recruit quickly closed all of Apple's factories, opting instead to mimic industry leader Dell by outsourcing manufacturing." (p. 95) (Yes, the author said something nice about Dell.)
"Inventory, Cook would later explain, "is fundamentally evil. You want to manage it like you're in the dairy business: If it gets past its freshness date, you have a problem."" (p. 95)
This sounds similar to just-in-time inventory management. Not unique to Apple. Efficient, but requiring, oh my, focus and attention to detail.
1992, enter Jonathan Ive, now 45 yrs old, THE industrial designer at Apple.
Entire career with Jobs and/or Apple, Scott James Forstall, about 43 yrs old, now SVP iOS Software.
Do we see a trend here? Youth, longevity with Apple. See the official corporate bios of these and others mentioned in the book here.
Chp. 6: Own Your Message:
"As part of its plan to debut, market, and sell each product, Apple decides who will speak about it and to whom, what the talking points will be, and which members of the press will be blessed with coveted interviews. The precise words Apple uses to communicate its message are repeated so many times that everyone, internally and externally, can recite them by heart.
The hallmarks of the Apple product message are, as with so much at Apple, simplicity and clarity." (p. 116)
"Consistency of message helps build customer loyalty." "...the best messaging is clear, concise, and repeated..."
Chp. 7: Overwhelm Friends/Dominate Foes:
"Arguably because Apple did things its own way, forging a business model that is unique in so many ways, Apple also institutionalized a culture of playing by its own rules. Partners of all types, from suppliers to consultants to collaborators, find out soon enough that Apple's playbook is the only one that matters." (p. 143)
Chp. 8: Plan for After Your Successor
What would Steve do?
What will Apple do?
Chp. 9: Inspire Imitators
Chp. 10: One More Thing
'Nuff said.
If you are interested in what has made one of the most successful corporations of modern times work, this is book for you. It held my attention from start to finish. I recommend it.
Related articles for those all-things-Apple obsessed, suggested by WordPress, which I haven't read.
June 16, 2013
As a longtime fan of Apple’s products, I’ve read a lot about this iconic company over the years. Apple’s willingness to break with the traditions is legendary, and it’s this revolutionary aspect of its products that has earned it the iconoclastic reputation that it has. Most of this revolutionary zeal, and Apple’s overall approach to business, was, of course, based in the particular vision of Steve Jobs, its founder and the CEO during some of the company’s most successful days. My own understanding of Apple’s esthetic and business approach was too based on numerous articles and books on Steve Jobs that I’ve read over the years. However, with his passing, the questions of how well will the company be able to carry on with his legacy and success will persist for some time. In order to better understand what is at stake, it’s important to take a closer look at the Apple itself, going beyond the man that was synonymous with it for many decades of its existence.
“Inside Apple� is a book that, as the title suggests, pulls the curtain ever so slightly away from Apple’s recondite inner workings and exposes those innards to the wider world. Apple is notoriously secretive about all aspects of its work, and this attitude of secrecy has a spell even over its former workers. Consequently, it has not been easy to gather valuable and verifiable information about the inside workings of Apple. This book, however, manages to present a very convincing and cogent view of what makes Apple unique. It shows how Apple’s business and management styles go against almost all business school wisdom that has been taught over the past several decades. Apple has often been accused of being extremely rigid, and it’s surprising that anyone form the Silicon Valley would ever want to work there, and little less actually thrive. However, this book makes the claim that the rigidity of Apple’s structure and the extreme compartmentalization of different divisions and subdivisions within the company, all serve the purpose of fostering a sense of small teamwork that most big tech companies eventually lose. It is debatable if that sense of teamwork can last, especially now that the visionary input of Steve Jobs is gone.
This is a very well researched and extremely readable account of one of the world’s most intriguing, successful and iconic companies. It will be of interest to anyone who wants to know more not only about the current technological trends, but also about how big corporations work. I enjoyed this book immensely and would highly recommend it.
“Inside Apple� is a book that, as the title suggests, pulls the curtain ever so slightly away from Apple’s recondite inner workings and exposes those innards to the wider world. Apple is notoriously secretive about all aspects of its work, and this attitude of secrecy has a spell even over its former workers. Consequently, it has not been easy to gather valuable and verifiable information about the inside workings of Apple. This book, however, manages to present a very convincing and cogent view of what makes Apple unique. It shows how Apple’s business and management styles go against almost all business school wisdom that has been taught over the past several decades. Apple has often been accused of being extremely rigid, and it’s surprising that anyone form the Silicon Valley would ever want to work there, and little less actually thrive. However, this book makes the claim that the rigidity of Apple’s structure and the extreme compartmentalization of different divisions and subdivisions within the company, all serve the purpose of fostering a sense of small teamwork that most big tech companies eventually lose. It is debatable if that sense of teamwork can last, especially now that the visionary input of Steve Jobs is gone.
This is a very well researched and extremely readable account of one of the world’s most intriguing, successful and iconic companies. It will be of interest to anyone who wants to know more not only about the current technological trends, but also about how big corporations work. I enjoyed this book immensely and would highly recommend it.
August 8, 2019
Оскільки книжка видана ще у 2012-му, деякі прогнози автора вже можна перевірити. Загалом цікаво читати про таку потужну компанію, на яку моляться мільйони фанатів по всьому світу, як вона ледь вижила і завдяки Стіву Джобс та сформованій ним команді стала найдорожчою компанією в світі. Автор не цурається згадувати про деякі сторінки історії Apple, якими навряд чи можна хвалитися - ставлення до конкурентів чи навіть до власних працівників. Разом з тим, важко заперечити унікальність підходу цієї компанії до бізнесу. Вони справді самі є фанатами власної продукції. Книжка привідкриває завісу вельми таємничої Apple, тому буде загалом цікавою усім хоч трохи зацікавленим в сучасних технологіях і особливо в інноваціях, байдуже - відданим прихильникам, палким противникам чи тим, хто ставиться до Apple як до однієї з багатьох.
Окремо хочу відзначити, на жаль, жахливу редактору і місцями халатну коректуру тексту. Не буду тут наводити жодних конкретних прикладів, хоч їх є просто безліч, але через це текст читається тяжко. Не можна так жахливо виконувати свою роботу. Можу таку ситуацію пояснити винятково тим, що книжку видано до 2014-го року, тобто, до народження реального ринку українськомовної літератури. Сподіваюся, видавництво "Брайт Стар Паблішинг" з розумінням поставиться до мого зауваження і стане хоч трохи вимогливішим до редагування і коректування текстів своїх книг. Стів Джобс, до речі, - приклад фанатичної уваги до найдрібніших деталей. Думаю, у видавничій справі це хороша риса для наслідування.
Окремо хочу відзначити, на жаль, жахливу редактору і місцями халатну коректуру тексту. Не буду тут наводити жодних конкретних прикладів, хоч їх є просто безліч, але через це текст читається тяжко. Не можна так жахливо виконувати свою роботу. Можу таку ситуацію пояснити винятково тим, що книжку видано до 2014-го року, тобто, до народження реального ринку українськомовної літератури. Сподіваюся, видавництво "Брайт Стар Паблішинг" з розумінням поставиться до мого зауваження і стане хоч трохи вимогливішим до редагування і коректування текстів своїх книг. Стів Джобс, до речі, - приклад фанатичної уваги до найдрібніших деталей. Думаю, у видавничій справі це хороша риса для наслідування.
June 2, 2013
من الكُتب الجميلة في مجال ريادة الأعمال، رغم أنّه يتحدّث عن آبل بشكل ما، إلا أنّه يُركّز على القيم التي قامت عليه آبل، بدل أن يكون الحديث فقط عن ستيف جوبز.
حاول آدم لاشينسكي، الوصول إلى تفكيك شفرة آبل للإبداع والانجاز المُميّز، وأعتقد أنّه تمكّن من فهم الكثير من الكلمات حول هذه الشركة المجنونة، فهوَ يشير منذ البداية إلى سريّة العلاقات في آبل، بل وسريّة كلّ شيء في هذه الشركة، وكيف تمكنت من العودة إلى السطح مجدداً بفضل أموال (مايكروسوفت).
بعض الكلمات التي أحببتها في الكتاب،
- جوبز، مارس الإدارة التفصيلية إلى حد مذهل، ولم تكن الصيغة الأوّلية لأي شيء ترضيه!.
- إمّا أن تقوم بأمرٍ ما أو لا تقوم به، لا مجال لمجرّد المحاولة.
- آبل في الخارج هي موضع إجلال، أمّا في الداخل فالأمر أقرب للعبادة!.
- الكشف المبكّر عن أيّة تفاصيل تضعف حدّة الترقّب.
لن أضع المزيد في محاولة لحفظ جمال هذا الكتاب، هوَ كتاب حول الحياة المهنية في أكثر الشركات احتراماً في العقد الأخير، إنها شركة مُذهلة جداً.
* أنصح كلّ شخص يهتم بريادة الأعمال الاطلاع على هذا الكتاب، وأيّ شخص مُهتم بالشركات والتطوير والقيادة والتخطيط بالاطلاع على هذا الكتاب، لستُ أدّعي بأنّه مرجعاً عظيماً ولكنّه كتاب مُختلف حول شركة مُختلفة عارضت كلّ دروس الجامعات في قضايا الأعمال!.
حاول آدم لاشينسكي، الوصول إلى تفكيك شفرة آبل للإبداع والانجاز المُميّز، وأعتقد أنّه تمكّن من فهم الكثير من الكلمات حول هذه الشركة المجنونة، فهوَ يشير منذ البداية إلى سريّة العلاقات في آبل، بل وسريّة كلّ شيء في هذه الشركة، وكيف تمكنت من العودة إلى السطح مجدداً بفضل أموال (مايكروسوفت).
بعض الكلمات التي أحببتها في الكتاب،
- جوبز، مارس الإدارة التفصيلية إلى حد مذهل، ولم تكن الصيغة الأوّلية لأي شيء ترضيه!.
- إمّا أن تقوم بأمرٍ ما أو لا تقوم به، لا مجال لمجرّد المحاولة.
- آبل في الخارج هي موضع إجلال، أمّا في الداخل فالأمر أقرب للعبادة!.
- الكشف المبكّر عن أيّة تفاصيل تضعف حدّة الترقّب.
لن أضع المزيد في محاولة لحفظ جمال هذا الكتاب، هوَ كتاب حول الحياة المهنية في أكثر الشركات احتراماً في العقد الأخير، إنها شركة مُذهلة جداً.
* أنصح كلّ شخص يهتم بريادة الأعمال الاطلاع على هذا الكتاب، وأيّ شخص مُهتم بالشركات والتطوير والقيادة والتخطيط بالاطلاع على هذا الكتاب، لستُ أدّعي بأنّه مرجعاً عظيماً ولكنّه كتاب مُختلف حول شركة مُختلفة عارضت كلّ دروس الجامعات في قضايا الأعمال!.
March 27, 2017
Well written, concise, easy read. Explores Apple from an interesting angle. That is, how they have succeeded by doing the opposite of what 'great' companies do.
They are not transparent, they keep secrets from employees, there is little career progression, for many years they were dictator led and they do little-to-no customer research. Additionally, they have odd relationships with analysts, marketing agencies and there media.
The only thing missing is that next level of depth that only a defected Apple employee could provide.
They are not transparent, they keep secrets from employees, there is little career progression, for many years they were dictator led and they do little-to-no customer research. Additionally, they have odd relationships with analysts, marketing agencies and there media.
The only thing missing is that next level of depth that only a defected Apple employee could provide.
September 29, 2018
4.5. I am so happy I read this book. In love with Adam Lashinsky's writing. The book was griping if I might call it so, because it is really an account of Apple from various standpoints, but the writing makes it like a journey of knowing Apple, and Steve Jobs, as well as the the executives it speaks about.
Loved the last touch about the author's point-of-view on the company himself, from the perspective of a customer and end-user of Apple's products.
I will recommend this!
Loved the last touch about the author's point-of-view on the company himself, from the perspective of a customer and end-user of Apple's products.
I will recommend this!
November 15, 2018
Reading this book only gets me to admire Apple more and more! Apple is the outcast, the underdog, the misfit that won over the love of the world. Its culture boiled down to:
+ Simplicity and clarity
+ Secrecy
+ Start-up spirit
+ Focus on details, focus on few products instead of multi-tasking
+ Own the message
+ Be brutal w friends and enemies
Its working style is not to be nice, but to be efficient and creative, which is the only way to greatness.
+ Simplicity and clarity
+ Secrecy
+ Start-up spirit
+ Focus on details, focus on few products instead of multi-tasking
+ Own the message
+ Be brutal w friends and enemies
Its working style is not to be nice, but to be efficient and creative, which is the only way to greatness.
January 8, 2018
The book was a peek into the working style and strategies of Steve Jobs’s iconic brand . It was overwhelming to know about facts and incidents that I never knew about. Even though it took me months to finish this book ,it was an interesting read .
September 15, 2019
Es una historia apasionante pero el tono muchas veces era algo "secreto", como si el autor nos estuviera iluminando en un sentido indescriptible y magnánimo. No es para tanto... Me gustaron los perfiles de los mandos medios, futuras generaciones líderes quizás.
February 11, 2018
Ett "litet" problem med den här boken är att det är en rapport från u t s i d a n.
April 28, 2021
Interesting insights about the inner workings of Apple as a company to a casual not so experienced reader like me.
April 21, 2020
نص ممتع و ملئ بتفاصيل ثرية جدا عن طبيعه العمل في أبل و بيطرح أسئلة قيمة للغاية
March 1, 2017
I wanted to read this book because I love Apple and their products, and I had previously read books about Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Jony Ive. This book was way different, where the biographies went in depth with different experiences, where this book was mainly business and how the company runs, but from outside the company. Reading about the company, you usually get the same stories and the same sides of those stories because you have interviews and inside information from Apple, where this book is different. The author had no real interviews or insiders while writing the book, and personally I feel like that hurt the book, but also helped it since it's different than all the other books really. I liked how the book was somewhat opinion based, and how the author really researched and thought through the book. Where that could be a good thing, I feel like this was also a bad part about the book too. The book's downfall was it seemed mainly opinion based, and I feel like I didn't really learn too many trade secrets or new information, just how the company runs as a business to the common person. Maybe I had too high of expectations, but I was disappointed with this book compared to the other books I have read about Apple Inc.
May 17, 2020
Журналист о внутреннем устройстве Эппл
Несколько полезных фактов о внутреннем устройстве Эппл, разбавленных трактовками автора и его размышлениями о будущем компании. Если бы было меньше размышлений и больше фактов, получилось бы полезнее.
Несколько полезных фактов о внутреннем устройстве Эппл, разбавленных трактовками автора и его размышлениями о будущем компании. Если бы было меньше размышлений и больше фактов, получилось бы полезнее.
June 30, 2012
An interesting book, but having first read Isaacson’s Steve Jobs, I found this book not as good. However, there were some insights and details here that fill out the picture of the company.
Apple is very secretive. Even people inside are compartmentalized and don’t know what each other are working on. And unlike other Silicon Valley companies Apple employees don’t talk about work with people from other companies. No one has connections with Apple. Steve Jobs was the only one permitted to have a network of contacts.
Apple employees do not move around much or get generalized experience. Almost none of the managers have financial skills (outside the finance function). Apple is not a fun place to work and it doesn’t pay a lot. “There's a popular expression at Apple: Everybody at Apple wants out, and everybody outside Apple wants in.�
Apple breaks the rules but doesn’t tolerate other companies breaking the rules. For example it is a stickler for making sure everyone follows its branding guidelines but ignores the branding guidelines of others. In communicating, if Apple needs something from you it will talk with you but after it has what it wants it will not return your phone calls.
Apple is very focused. “The hallmarks of the Apple product message are, as with so much at Apple, simplicity and clarity. Throughout its history, Apple has unveiled products and features that either didn't previously exist in the industry or represented
meaningful leaps forward. The simple design and capabilities of the first iPod and the groundbreaking multitouch expand-and-contract feature on the iPhone are
two noteworthy examples.�
“The trick with selling breakthrough products is to explain them clearly. Bob Borchers, who was a senior product marketing executive for the iPhone, described Apple's approach to educating the public about the new product in 2007, when the smartphone market was dominated by BlackBerry and Palm. ‘When we launched the iPhone, it could have been a gazillion things,� he recalled. ‘It did a huge number of functions and had multiple features�. Rather than listing a multitude of capabilities, he said, Apple executives ‘boiled it down to three things: It was a revolutionary phone; it was the Internet in your pocket; and it was the best iPod we'd ever created.’�
“Apple is a company of paradoxes. Its people and institutional bearing are off-the-charts arrogant, yet at the same time they are genuinely fearful of what would happen if their big bets go bad. The creative side of the business that was dominated by Steve Jobs is made up of lifers or near lifers who value only an Apple way of doing things—hardly the typical creative mind-set. The operations side of Apple runs like any company in America, but better, and is led by a cadre of ex-IBMers, the cultural antithesis of Apple. Apple has an entrepreneurial flair yet keeps its people in a tightly controlled box, following time-tested procedures. Its public image, at least seen through its advertising, is whimsical and fun, yet its internal demeanor is cheerless and nose-to-the-grindstone.�
Apple is very secretive. Even people inside are compartmentalized and don’t know what each other are working on. And unlike other Silicon Valley companies Apple employees don’t talk about work with people from other companies. No one has connections with Apple. Steve Jobs was the only one permitted to have a network of contacts.
Apple employees do not move around much or get generalized experience. Almost none of the managers have financial skills (outside the finance function). Apple is not a fun place to work and it doesn’t pay a lot. “There's a popular expression at Apple: Everybody at Apple wants out, and everybody outside Apple wants in.�
Apple breaks the rules but doesn’t tolerate other companies breaking the rules. For example it is a stickler for making sure everyone follows its branding guidelines but ignores the branding guidelines of others. In communicating, if Apple needs something from you it will talk with you but after it has what it wants it will not return your phone calls.
Apple is very focused. “The hallmarks of the Apple product message are, as with so much at Apple, simplicity and clarity. Throughout its history, Apple has unveiled products and features that either didn't previously exist in the industry or represented
meaningful leaps forward. The simple design and capabilities of the first iPod and the groundbreaking multitouch expand-and-contract feature on the iPhone are
two noteworthy examples.�
“The trick with selling breakthrough products is to explain them clearly. Bob Borchers, who was a senior product marketing executive for the iPhone, described Apple's approach to educating the public about the new product in 2007, when the smartphone market was dominated by BlackBerry and Palm. ‘When we launched the iPhone, it could have been a gazillion things,� he recalled. ‘It did a huge number of functions and had multiple features�. Rather than listing a multitude of capabilities, he said, Apple executives ‘boiled it down to three things: It was a revolutionary phone; it was the Internet in your pocket; and it was the best iPod we'd ever created.’�
“Apple is a company of paradoxes. Its people and institutional bearing are off-the-charts arrogant, yet at the same time they are genuinely fearful of what would happen if their big bets go bad. The creative side of the business that was dominated by Steve Jobs is made up of lifers or near lifers who value only an Apple way of doing things—hardly the typical creative mind-set. The operations side of Apple runs like any company in America, but better, and is led by a cadre of ex-IBMers, the cultural antithesis of Apple. Apple has an entrepreneurial flair yet keeps its people in a tightly controlled box, following time-tested procedures. Its public image, at least seen through its advertising, is whimsical and fun, yet its internal demeanor is cheerless and nose-to-the-grindstone.�
January 7, 2020
This is a terrific book, especially for anyone who is either running a business or is thinking of running one. It is also a great book for general knowledge on how Apple as a brand grew under Steve Jobs.
Apple, I learn from the book, is so secretive that they don’t have an organogram and there are security doors everywhere. There are places employees can’t access, especially the engineering lab. And information is shared on a need-to-know basis. You share something, even in a pub, you get fired. Lashinsky narrates that an apple product launch is shrouded in so much secrecy that no one knows what or when Apple would be launching any of its products.
Steve Jobs defied many of the management rules. It did not have the bureaucracy of most companies and organisations but the hungry, lean build and make of a start-up. That was the enduring legacy of Steve Jobs. They concentrated on one or two products at a time and Steve’s imprimatur was all over it. In fact, at Apple, Steve Jobs towered over everything and if Jobs disliked something, it had to be reconfigured, redone, and tweaked to Job’s liking. So brutal is Apple’s critique of anything that all employees at Apple have grown accustomed to it.
Perhaps the greatest lesson from this book is this: live your purpose and don’t chase money; money will follow you if you follow your purpose. Steve Jobs hated doing things solely for money. His concern was to develop great products and to avert what he saw as a Computer Dark Age if Apple didn’t succeed when it was very close to being wound-up when Jobs came into the picture. The customer was his greatest priority� not money, not fame, not headlines.
Steve Jobs was a story-teller and one could detect this in how Apple packaged its communication. His short speeches during product launches were thoroughly prepared and rehearsed and very effective. How products were described is pure genius of a good story-teller.
One other thing.This book teaches us of the immense capacity we have as human beings not to settle for less and to reimagine how things are done. Innovation. Innovation. Innovation. The world is constantly changing and our role is not always to react to the whims of nature but to design and curve paths that our minds imagine. And if we need to go against the grain and rub against people, so be it.
Apple, I learn from the book, is so secretive that they don’t have an organogram and there are security doors everywhere. There are places employees can’t access, especially the engineering lab. And information is shared on a need-to-know basis. You share something, even in a pub, you get fired. Lashinsky narrates that an apple product launch is shrouded in so much secrecy that no one knows what or when Apple would be launching any of its products.
Steve Jobs defied many of the management rules. It did not have the bureaucracy of most companies and organisations but the hungry, lean build and make of a start-up. That was the enduring legacy of Steve Jobs. They concentrated on one or two products at a time and Steve’s imprimatur was all over it. In fact, at Apple, Steve Jobs towered over everything and if Jobs disliked something, it had to be reconfigured, redone, and tweaked to Job’s liking. So brutal is Apple’s critique of anything that all employees at Apple have grown accustomed to it.
Perhaps the greatest lesson from this book is this: live your purpose and don’t chase money; money will follow you if you follow your purpose. Steve Jobs hated doing things solely for money. His concern was to develop great products and to avert what he saw as a Computer Dark Age if Apple didn’t succeed when it was very close to being wound-up when Jobs came into the picture. The customer was his greatest priority� not money, not fame, not headlines.
Steve Jobs was a story-teller and one could detect this in how Apple packaged its communication. His short speeches during product launches were thoroughly prepared and rehearsed and very effective. How products were described is pure genius of a good story-teller.
One other thing.This book teaches us of the immense capacity we have as human beings not to settle for less and to reimagine how things are done. Innovation. Innovation. Innovation. The world is constantly changing and our role is not always to react to the whims of nature but to design and curve paths that our minds imagine. And if we need to go against the grain and rub against people, so be it.
February 27, 2015
Inside apple - Simple and fascinating! This was my sequel after reading Steve jobs by Walter Isaacson well this explained "who is Steve?" and Inside Apple explained "what is Apple?". Unlike other company in wall of cupertino, this company not only thinks also "Works different".
I really loved how author revealed the chapter of world's most admired and secretive company through his quote, "EVERY COMPANY HAS SECRETS BUT IN APPLE EVERYTHING IS A SECRET". Apple is not a fun loving place to work all it needs is perfectionism where PRODUCT and QUALITY comes first and rest others.
In apple Steve is the ONLY superior power who decides everything it starts from choosing the color employee can suggest him any color but what Steve selects will be the apple's color. Any information that being discussed should not be disclosed until the product release. The team of one product will not be discussing with other team members about their design or any feature until the release.
That's the apple culture also its dog-eat-dog environment as ex employer said. If you need anything done inside apple then its simple write an email with the subject line "Steve request" :-). Funny, but yet it worked for them till date.
Author also discussed about Tim and all other apple executive and their modern work methodology which was quiet interesting. Finally as Author said Apple is a treasure trove of secrets and definitely the most admired company in the world. "Inside Apple" is fun reading, if you are really a Apple fan.
I really loved how author revealed the chapter of world's most admired and secretive company through his quote, "EVERY COMPANY HAS SECRETS BUT IN APPLE EVERYTHING IS A SECRET". Apple is not a fun loving place to work all it needs is perfectionism where PRODUCT and QUALITY comes first and rest others.
In apple Steve is the ONLY superior power who decides everything it starts from choosing the color employee can suggest him any color but what Steve selects will be the apple's color. Any information that being discussed should not be disclosed until the product release. The team of one product will not be discussing with other team members about their design or any feature until the release.
That's the apple culture also its dog-eat-dog environment as ex employer said. If you need anything done inside apple then its simple write an email with the subject line "Steve request" :-). Funny, but yet it worked for them till date.
Author also discussed about Tim and all other apple executive and their modern work methodology which was quiet interesting. Finally as Author said Apple is a treasure trove of secrets and definitely the most admired company in the world. "Inside Apple" is fun reading, if you are really a Apple fan.
May 1, 2012
I have read quite a few book biographies about Steve Jobs and accounts of Apple and Adam Lashinsky's "Inside Apple" has uncovered new ground. Not only is there quite a bit of new fodder about Apple and its workings, but it helped explain some of my dealings with not only Apple HQ, but those who have worked there in management roles who are now at other organizations. I thought it would be rare to have so many a ha moments with all of the reading about Apple I have done since the early 80s, but also the dealings I have had with Apple.
Inside Apple also covers the "what Apple does differently to make it a success" ground really well. Lashinsky repeatedly comes back the diversity, focus, breadth, intentional social interaction patterns, and access to information (internally and externally) all while breaking down why this works so well for Apple and may not work well elsewhere.
This book has become one of my more highly highlighted and annotated books I have, which is the mark of a very good book in my view. The book was a wonderful read as much as it was insightful, but I am a fan of Lashinsky's writing in periodicals and have ensured I caught them for my own reading.
Inside Apple also covers the "what Apple does differently to make it a success" ground really well. Lashinsky repeatedly comes back the diversity, focus, breadth, intentional social interaction patterns, and access to information (internally and externally) all while breaking down why this works so well for Apple and may not work well elsewhere.
This book has become one of my more highly highlighted and annotated books I have, which is the mark of a very good book in my view. The book was a wonderful read as much as it was insightful, but I am a fan of Lashinsky's writing in periodicals and have ensured I caught them for my own reading.
March 20, 2013
It's hard for outsiders to imagine how Apple really works. As what suggested by the author, most of us outsiders would think that working with Apple is cool and it is sort of a dream company you want to work or brag about working in. In reality the company has so much differences compared to any large organisations that I would agree that Apple is not for everyone. The author has quite clearly defined how Apple has become the Apple today and what differentiated them from other companies and what brought them to their fame and status today. A lot of it were about Steve Jobs and whether the leaders in post Jobs era will be able to survive without him. Authors briefly discussed what Apple may do better without Jobs and what Apple could not emulate without Jobs. Considering Apple is a very unique, one of its kind and extremely successful company, this book is worth reading. The book is not all about Steve Jobs but a few of Apple key personnel were also introduced, including Tim Cook, the CEO now.
June 29, 2017
كتاب يخوص في تفاصيل أبل الداخلية، يحتوى على العديد من المواقف المتناقضة للعلامة نفسها، ففي الوقت الذي يتمنى فيه من هم خارج أبل للعمل فيها، يتمنى العاملون فيها الخروج.
غطرسة ستيف جوبز حفرت في كل تفاصيل أبل.
كان لجوبز منهجه القيادي الخاص، ضاربا بعلوم الإدارة العالمية عرض الحائط. ونجح في متابعة كافة مستجدات الشركة بنفسه. كما كان يعتنق عقيدة السرية، وكأن أبل جهازا دولة أمني. فقد كان العاملين فيها يعملون على أجزاء صغيرة من مشاريع لا يعلمون تفاصيلها الكاملة. فقط انجز الجزء الخاص بك وكفى. كما أنه حريص على تدفق كل البيانات والمعلومات إليه بشكل مباشر، أما الموظفين فيعطيهم من المعلومات بقدر حاجة المهام الموكلة إليهم.
استطاع جوبز بناء شركة خارقة بأسلوب لا يمكن تقليده.
الكتاب يكشف لك تناقضات كثيرة أبعد مما نعرفه عن علامة أبل التي تتميز بالبساطة والتصميم.
كتاب مثري، ولكن ترجمته ليست ممتازة.
غطرسة ستيف جوبز حفرت في كل تفاصيل أبل.
كان لجوبز منهجه القيادي الخاص، ضاربا بعلوم الإدارة العالمية عرض الحائط. ونجح في متابعة كافة مستجدات الشركة بنفسه. كما كان يعتنق عقيدة السرية، وكأن أبل جهازا دولة أمني. فقد كان العاملين فيها يعملون على أجزاء صغيرة من مشاريع لا يعلمون تفاصيلها الكاملة. فقط انجز الجزء الخاص بك وكفى. كما أنه حريص على تدفق كل البيانات والمعلومات إليه بشكل مباشر، أما الموظفين فيعطيهم من المعلومات بقدر حاجة المهام الموكلة إليهم.
استطاع جوبز بناء شركة خارقة بأسلوب لا يمكن تقليده.
الكتاب يكشف لك تناقضات كثيرة أبعد مما نعرفه عن علامة أبل التي تتميز بالبساطة والتصميم.
كتاب مثري، ولكن ترجمته ليست ممتازة.
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March 14, 2014آپل من الداخل: لا أستطيع وصف الكتاب على انه رائع الا ان هناك العديد من الأفكار الجيدة. يستخدم الكاتب العديد من التوصيفات "المنفوخة" والطنانة التي تقلل من قيمة الكتاب والأثر الذي يرجوه الكاتب والاقتناع بشركة آپل العملاقة وأسلوب مؤسسها في الادارة. لكن هناك أفكارا في القيادة الإدارية يستنبطها القارئ مثل:
شغف الصانع بمُنتجه قد يولد شغف من قبل المستهلك بهذا المنتج،
والرابط العاطفي بين الصانع والمُنتج قد يجعل المستهلك مرتبط عاطفياً بهذا المنتج
الاهتمام بالتفاصيل له نفس أهمية الاهتمام بالأمور الكبرى، بل الإبداع والجمال يختبئ في تلك التفاصيل
صحيح اننا اليوم في عالم التشبيك واللامركزية الا ان النظام الهرمي في المؤسسات، مع انه يبطئ الانتاج، لكنه أقدر على الاقتراب من الكمال.
شغف الصانع بمُنتجه قد يولد شغف من قبل المستهلك بهذا المنتج،
والرابط العاطفي بين الصانع والمُنتج قد يجعل المستهلك مرتبط عاطفياً بهذا المنتج
الاهتمام بالتفاصيل له نفس أهمية الاهتمام بالأمور الكبرى، بل الإبداع والجمال يختبئ في تلك التفاصيل
صحيح اننا اليوم في عالم التشبيك واللامركزية الا ان النظام الهرمي في المؤسسات، مع انه يبطئ الانتاج، لكنه أقدر على الاقتراب من الكمال.
December 20, 2013
It's really easy now to see why this book has low rating. First up the author is really not a good writer at all. He used a lot of bombastic words that quite didn't fit the topic. He played around with some facts that I know for sure are wrong. It's very obvious that he didn't read the autobiography by walter isaacson. Which is VERY irritating.
However if you can take the author out and focus on the news and inside stories told about Apple - which he doesn't cite most of their references - you will definitely find values in this book.
My advice, buy it cheap, read it fast and move on.
However if you can take the author out and focus on the news and inside stories told about Apple - which he doesn't cite most of their references - you will definitely find values in this book.
My advice, buy it cheap, read it fast and move on.
January 27, 2012
Powered through the entire book in 2 days.
If you read 'How Apple Works' by the author in Fortune magazine and the Steve Jobs biography you'd get a pretty good idea on what is going on in this book, there were some interesting tidbits but sadly most of them were revealed by blogs/mainstream media before I got a chance to read the book.
Ultimately I found the content of the book engaging, because Apple is a company that interests me but I wasn't blown away.
If you read 'How Apple Works' by the author in Fortune magazine and the Steve Jobs biography you'd get a pretty good idea on what is going on in this book, there were some interesting tidbits but sadly most of them were revealed by blogs/mainstream media before I got a chance to read the book.
Ultimately I found the content of the book engaging, because Apple is a company that interests me but I wasn't blown away.
March 18, 2013
Pretty light in unique content, although I did gain some new insights about Apple the company. 'Everyone in Apple wants to get out and everyone outside Apple wants to get in.' says it all. Rather hire then promote. Cast aside once your specific project is over. Secretive and compartmentalize (like terrorist cell). Seems the Apple's structure was customized to serve a visionary narcissist. Now that he - Jobs - is gone, Apple will atrophy as current product line matures...unfortunate.
October 23, 2023
Another enjoyable read about Apple. Through their products and all the things that make them unusual as a company in my industry, it is one of the companies in which I have the most interest. Unlike the Jobs biography, this focused more on the company itself and how it operates and it rounded out more the sense of the place.
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