A report on the tech giant’s myriad changes following the death of Steve Jobs in 2011.
Journalist Mickle, who covered Apple and other Silicon Valley companies for the Wall Street Journal, crafts a dynamic, eye-opening debut drawing from news articles, court filings, published materials, and hundreds of interviews. The fact that a sizable portion of Mickle’s source material is derived from current and former Apple employees lends his report credence, particularly after noting the strict corporate “culture of omertà” workers abide by and the challenges he faced accessing information from this tight-lipped “iPhone syndicate.” The author documents how the company’s corporate direction changed after Jobs’ death, leaving perfectionist Chief Design Officer Jony Ive and former COO and “Apple’s king of commerce” Tim Cook in charge. Mickle provides expansive histories on both executives, and he shows how their combined influence led the company away from its core values and culture. The author clearly shows the increasing tensions between the two leaders and the ever expanding differences in how each envisioned the future of Apple. The road became especially rocky after several senior engineers resigned, after which leadership’s hesitations and inability to collaborate effectively created further significant problems. Some of Apple’s critical missteps included the glitchy Apple Maps app, the tortured development of an intuitive smart watch, a flawed initiative for a self-driving car, and the generally panicked search for “Apple’s next big bet” while staying ahead of rivals. This put Cook and Ive’s experience and resolve to the ultimate test. While the results were successful financially, they came at the expense of the creative spirit that had defined the company for decades. Circling back on his initial discussions, Mickle points to what he interprets as the nexus of Apple’s soullessness: the ascension of Cook, a democratic, operations-focused leader who concentrated more on privacy protections and profit pyramids than pioneering innovative developments. Tech enthusiasts will find this meticulously researched report great fodder for debate on the future of Apple as a tech leader.
A focused, perceptive assessment of the evolution of Apple’s alchemy.