Giveaway: Inside Apple: New book aims to expose old secrets
Inside Apple is a new book from Adam Lashinsky that aims to reveal some of the secrets behind the success of America's premiere consumer electronics company -- Apple. Lashinsky wasn't given the access that Walter Issacson was given for the Steve Jobs biography, but he did lots of interviews and paints a compelling portrait of one of the most secret companies in recent history. How much of the Apple magic he ultimate manages to expose is anyone's guess, but for Apple enthusiasts and business students alike, it certainly looks like a must read.
Check out the full description -- and giveaway! -- after the break, and pre-order now to avoid the virtual rush. (We'll also be discussing this in the iMore book club, so head on over!)
- $12.99 - iBooks link
- $12.99 and up - Amazon link
INSIDE APPLE reveals the secret systems, tactics and leadership strategies that allowed Steve Jobs and his company to churn out hit after hit and inspire a cult-like following for its products.
If Apple is Silicon Valley's answer to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, then author Adam Lashinsky provides readers with a golden ticket to step inside. In this primer on leadership and innovation, the author will introduce readers to concepts like the "DRI" (Apple's practice of assigning a Directly Responsible Individual to every task) and the Top 100 (an annual ritual in which 100 up-and-coming executives are tapped a la Skull & Bones for a secret retreat with company founder Steve Jobs).
Based on numerous interviews, the book offers exclusive new information about how Apple innovates, deals with its suppliers and is handling the transition into the Post Jobs Era. Lashinsky, a Senior Editor at Large for Fortune, knows the subject cold: In a 2008 cover story for the magazine entitled The Genius Behind Steve: Could Operations Whiz Tim Cook Run The Company Someday he predicted that Tim Cook, then an unknown, would eventually succeed Steve Jobs as CEO.
While Inside Apple is ostensibly a deep dive into one, unique company (and its ecosystem of suppliers, investors, employees and competitors), the lessons about Jobs, leadership, product design and marketing are universal. They should appeal to anyone hoping to bring some of that Apple magic to their own company, career, or creative endeavor.
The Giveaway
Leave a comment below telling us what secret you'd most like to learn about Apple and you're automatically entered to win one of three (3) copies of Inside Apple, courtesy of your friends here at iMore! (Must have a U.S Apple Store account to redeem -- Apple's rule, not ours!). Contests starts now and ends Sunday, January 29 at midnight PST.
There are 155 comments. Add yours.
I'd love to know who Steve Job's fashion stylist was.
It's actually in Issacson's book.
I want to know what the secret lab with the new products looks like (and what's in that lab, too) :P
would be nice to know (if the book cover it) company's tactics to hide the upcoming products
I'd like to learn how amidst all the stories of overworking and secrecy, they're consistently rated as one of the sexiest places to work. I'm guessing it's not the water in Cupertino...
Id like to how their recreational time is spent toghether. A good company develops chemistry...how do they do that...
I'd like to know everything that is Apple. The creation and the brain. This book is something I definitely want to read.
I want to learn how Apple's software was designed, developed, and tested.
I want to learn how innovative ideas become products
I would love to learn how Apple's PR department works.
I want to know how far in advance they work on products. For example are they working on iPhone 9; even though iPhone 5 isn't out yet.
I want to know this exact thing as well. Also, how do they judge what the people of the future want? For example, Apple was late to the multitasking game. Why?
I'd like to know how they keep innovating and churning out awesome products; the think tank.
Simple: I want to learn all of their secrets in order to build a company that can beat them :)
IsTim Cook gay?
i'd like to know how they choose the people they hire.
I really want to know if is actually a company worth working for in the future.
I'd like to know if there is a way to sign up to test new products or product updates, and if so, how one does it.
I want to know product they are planning to trump the Nike Fuel, Jawbone Up, Fitbit, etc. This is a huge potential market that Apple seems primed to enter.
I'd like to learn what types of new products and/or services Steve Jobs was thinking about developing before his untimely demise.
I'd like to know more about Apple's corporate culture, honestly. It's something that I'm starting to become curious about.
BJ
How to know what to leave out of a product and what to keep in. Minimalism.
Id like to know what apple does to make their products so popular!
I'd love to know more about the product designing workflow
I'd like to know how many different versions of a product Apple creates before deciding on the final model.
How do they decide which product(s) to pursue (out of the many products they are developing)?
It would be interesting to know just how many rooms are dedicated to what in light of the "unboxing room" that apparently exists.
I would like to know how pissed Steve was when the 4 leaked very very early!
I would like to know what they are doing in the basement below the basement.
I want to know how their marketing works, and how they're able to build up so much hype that they have mobs of people waiting outside of stores for hours to buy a device they've never touched!
I'd like to know what Apple has planned for the iTV.
I want to know who actually came up with the idea for the iphone and its design.
I would like to know how Apple's leadership framework operates. Every one I know that works in Cupertino LOVES working there. Essentially I want to know their secret on effective leadership.
Just finishing Steve Jobs and really need a new book to read. Thanks
I would like to know if there are any plans for an "iDesk"
What will Apple do in the future as far as products and their aims
I would like to know how Apple figures out what we need before we know we need it.
I would like to know how the name apple came about and the creation of Macintosh. I would love to read this novel and truley hope I win
I'd like to know how many bathrooms they have! :)
I would love to learn how much, if at all, the plans of other tech companies influence Apple. That, and I'd like to know how Apple was influenced by the space program.
I want to know if Apple without Steve can keep on being the Apple that Steve made...
Id like to know more about sir jonny ive's secret secret secret lab and what's in there we may never see or know about.
I'd like to know how to be more productive.
I'd love to know about this Apple TV thingy!
I'd love to find out what Apple's roadmap looks like 5 years out.
I want to know how far in the future the iphone "feature" pipeline is mapped out and how the complex product design and supplier capacity that goes into deciding when a feature is available. Just how do they get me to buy a new phone every year ... having just enough features to "need to buy it" yet not so much that they sacrifice next year's sales.
I'd love to hear any new details on what goes on the design studio at Apple beyond what's in the Isaacson book.
I want to know one more thing.
As secretive as Apple is, I'll be happy to hear any secrete this book uncovers.
I would like to know more about Apple's marketing strategies. Employee retention would be a good second point of interest.
I'd like to know how Apple keeps their product announcements so secretive, and more about the lab!
Any yet uncovered secret is a win in my book (pun intended) :)
I'd like to know if there's really going to be an Apple Television coming out in 2012 or 2013. And, if so, will it really have Siri and iCloud built in.
How products are decided.
What coffee they drink in the cafe.
upcoming products and some sales and designing tips
I'd love to know how far out they plan their stuff. Seems like rumors that come out are about 2 years ahead. Like the rumor of a 64 gig iPhone came out right before the 3GS, then 2 years later the 4S has it.
Im interested to learn more about the design process - what drives design decisions and how designers work with engineers to make the final product.
I'd love to see all of the prototypes over the years that Steve Jobs gave the emperor's thumbs down to.
Many questions that I hope get answered. Apple and specially Steve Jobs real reactions to IPhone 4 left at a bar scandal. How many design alternatives to each product do they manage. Again we don't know how deep inside this book goes to but it would be a really interesting reading for anyone.
I was thinking pretty much the same thing as Ray. I am curious as to what products ended up getting the axe and why.
How do they come up with becomes an Easter egg in what product?
I'm interested in the development of the Newton, and why it was killed rather than improved since small handhelds did succeed (Palm) and what was going on behind the scenes as they came up with the concepts for the Touch and iPhone - like why they stayed out of the market till they knew they had a winner.
I want to know what projects didn't get made.
I want to know what it takes to work for them. What kind of perks they also get. Everyone knows all about Google with their cool spas and cafeteria etc.
I would love to find out more about the failed designs that come out of the labs :)
I want to know if the "lost" iPhones were intentional.
I would like to know how do they hide new products so efficiently
I want to find the cryogenic chamber.
I would really like to learn more about Steve Jobs' minimalist lifestyle and how that impacted Apple products.
To be honest, Apple is pretty much my favourite company, its tactics, business model, train of thought and design elements all fall in line with my beliefs of what a proper company should strive to achieve in its existence. Just my honest opinion.
I would like to win a copy of such a insightful title, not for any one particular "secret" that I am hoping will shockingly be revealed in the book, but rather for it's new perspective into the workings of one of the greatest companies of our time.
P.S - I do have a 100% functional U.S App Store account.
The kind of things that people have been fired for revealing
Are Apple actively looking at the JailBreak developer community (I mean the guys writing the cool stuff, not the people who do the actual JBs, and maybe even engaging with them) and considering adding a lot of cool features from there any time soon and extending the APIs etc. so that people who JB for tweaks don't need to bother as they can get them officially.
I'd like to know what happened to the employees who left the iphones in the bars
I'd like to know the pet projects that haven't seem the light of day
The new product lab! Pictures I say!!
I'd like to learn about their unreleased products.
The secret I wanna know is how many ppl apple has just to go after top of the line technology, to implement it on a phone. And if the whole company shares a commitment for Jobs vision or is just work for them?
I'd like to learn about some of the products that didn't make the final cut...and why.
I want to know where they get enough unicorn blood to put in their devices.
I'd like to know what the future holds for apple in 2013 and beyond.
I'd love to know how they successfully overcame adversity to rise like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes.
I would like to know the specifics of the nondisclosure forms that Apple employees must sign.
I want to know why Steve Jobs couldn't live FOREVER!!! I want to see how the brain of "Sir Jonathan Ive's" brain work!!
I'd love to know how many iPhone prototypes apple produced in the last years and why they seleted the ones they selected for production.
I want to know what is really behond those big aluminum doors in the Apple Store... :)
Behind* spellcheck
Would love the opportunity to see how Apple really works!
It must be a great book!!
I would like to know how apple developes an idea to a fully functional product.
I'd like to know what products Apple designed but decided wouldn't work out and therefore didn't release.
I really want to know the lowdown on apple's product design processes.
I want to know if there are really apple police Haha
How Apple manages to stay ahead of all the other companies.
I'd love to learn about how they decide whether a product will be released and then what happens to the product - Specifically those that are NOT released. Is there a vault with all of those failed ideas that those in the know can play with and try to bring back to life in a new and updated form?
I'd like to learn more about how Steve Jobs operated behind the scenes - how he motivated, innovated - and how he was able to inspire and develop such amazing products.
Thanks for the contest - hope to get a copy.
BB
I'm curious about anything going on inside Apple, really. One example is that I sometimes wonder how they decide when to discontinue including things like floppy drive, optical drives, etc. when other companies continue to carry along such legacies.
What process(es) did they use to maintain an productive development shop while supporting and encouraging creativity and innovation? How did they avoid a sort of internal caste system?
I'd love to learn more about the "behind-the-scenes" aspect of product development and how a company so large develops so many cool products while keeping most people in the dark. Very cool!
I would like to know what happens to the prototypes after they release the actual design and also how long it takes to produce an iPhone (like are they already working on the 7th generation?)
I'd love to know how their hiring process is organized so I can work with them!
Design tips and tricks, but probably at the top would be the secrets in hiding the information on upcoming products
Id like to know the magic behind apple aka how they plan their devices
I would like to know how the passing of the Late Great Steve Jobs, Has truely impacted on the design Ideas of the company. Also would like to know how bad his Passing has affected the Research and Design teams for new products
I'd like to know how much did Steve involve the development of iPhone 5.
I'd like to know more about the SDLC and QA process that they use to push such big product deliveries into production use.
I would like to know how many years worth of products they have in development.
I want to know about their plans for the photography revolution
Would love to know how they did what they did. Thanks for the chance.
Love to read about the secret recipe of Apple product range
I'm interested in understanding more about the day to day culture at Apple, and how the different teams collaborate.
I'd like to know about the products that were never released.
I would just die to know what the deal with their hiring process is. Tips, loopholes, all of it ! :)
How products are tested right before they are released. And how do i get that job
I'd like to know why they hoard so much cash. Disaster planning? Major acquisitions? Something else we don't know about? What's their thinking?
This book has to be part of my Apple book collection
I'd like to know what the Apple Campus culture is and what motivates employees to work so hard beyond normal and what the work ethics are.
id like to know how Tim cook treat his employes
I want to know if they ever thought about making Macs that release an apple scent. Yeah, I can't think of anything at the moment.
I would like to know more about Apple's supply chain from materials and parts to point of sale.
The secrets of future products and ideas must be a hard task to keep.
Employee loyalty plays a big part on keeping those secrets.
How do you maintain that loyalty
With Apple's history of dishing out misinformation, especially around the launching of a new product, I'd like to know if those lost iPhones were staged.
I would really like to know what the top execs have in their offices as far as future/concept devices go.
I hope the book features a lot about Apple's cutthroat supply chain.
I would like to know how they have been able to keep everything so secret. I believe this has helped to build excitement for new products.
I love Apple ans it's product line. Then will always be head and shoulders above the competition. This book would be gravy on my mash potatoes.
I'd like to learn about the secrecy inside the entire company and how they were able to keep everything under wraps.
I would like to know how demanding and what toll it takes if any on them. If they are relatively well adjusted as a team what is thei secret?
I want to learn how they strive for a minimalist design.
I want to know what Apple is doing to upgrade Siri's speech recognition.
the secret of where they hid the pot of gold!
I'd like to know Steve Jobs' reaction after the Lisa was released to generally poor reviews.
I'd love to know how many designs they routinely discard in the pursuit of perfection.
I would love to read about all the secrets that apple has...
I'd love a behind-the-scenes look at the security surrounding prototypes, as well as any info on whether or not they actually utilize fake devices to mask what's really being developed. Could be fun stuff!
would be nice to know (if the book cover it) company’s tactics to hide the upcoming products
wanna know whats next!
I would love to know the secret process of how ideas for innovation are gathered by Apple and then revised and then brought to life.
I would want to understand more what type of market research the company does. I know they typically don't ask consumers what they want, but I figure there has to be some form of market research going on.
As a long time Apple fan, I'm very intrigued with the rumors about Apple coming out with a television with built-in iTV integration, and hopefully integration with iOS apps and maybe even Siri (although that alone is probably a long shot). And so I'd like to know Apple's secret with this new soon-to-be released technology!
I would like to learn what the working experience is like.
I would like to learn where they keep their $96,000,000,000.00 cash so I can smash and grab 'em! Haha! Kidding aside, I would love to know how they create/test the prototypes for their future products. Thanks iMore!
I want Steve to tell us who killed Kennedy and what's in area 51. This was posted completely with Siri on voice recognition. If Steve says it we'll believe it.
I would like to know the company strategy to keep information of new products from getting out to the press.
I would love to know what is talked about in the Top 100 meetings they have!
Id like to know if the products that are leaked are not really leaked at all but plotted by apple
I want to know how did he get all of us to do more then buy it, but how did he get us to keep wanting more of it making us alone without may I say the whole set. Like we can't just have a iPhone we get the iPod iPad Mac MacBook because it's a must. Or maybe I'm weird
I am a very curious person so i am sure it would b a good read for me.
I would like to know how they never seem to have a credible leak re what the next device will be like ie iPhone 5, yet people loose prototypes? Lol!
Obviously what it's like to work there. Any tips on getting a job?
It would be great to just know overall what happens inside the walls of apple
I would like to know how Apple keeps their supplies from leaking their items to the public.
I would like to learn more about the secret lab
I would like to learn how a idea becomes reality!
Amazing things here. I am very glad to peer your post. Thank you a lot and I'm looking ahead to contact you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?