13 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
A book examining Apple's complex and high-stakes business relationship with China — covering manufacturing, market dependence, regulatory pressure, and the geopolitical risks of Apple's deep integration with Chinese supply chains and consumer market.
Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli's 2015 biography of Steve Jobs — drawing on decades of personal access Schlender had to Jobs — which presents a more complete and sympathetic portrait than Isaacson's authorized biography, tracking Jobs's evolution from the difficult young founder through his Pixar and NeXT years.
Ken Kocienda's 2018 account of his 15 years as a software engineer at Apple — developing the iPhone keyboard and Safari browser — which provides the most specific and credible description of Apple's demo-driven product development process from the inside.
Ken Segall's 2012 account of Apple's obsession with simplicity — written by the advertising creative director who named the iMac and worked with Steve Jobs for 12 years — arguing that simplicity was not an aesthetic preference but Apple's core business strategy.
British industrial designer who served as Apple's Chief Design Officer from 1992 to 2019 — designing the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch — making him the most influential industrial designer of the computing era.
American management author and former tech executive — formerly at Google and Apple — author of Radical Candor — who created the most widely used management feedback framework in Silicon Valley.
A posthumous collection of Steve Jobs's speeches, interviews, and correspondence — edited by the Steve Jobs Archive — providing the most intimate access to his thinking on creativity, design, and leadership.
Apple's personal digital assistant product line released from 1993 to 1998 — pioneering mobile computing concepts including handwriting recognition and contact/calendar management — which was cancelled by Steve Jobs immediately upon his return to Apple.
Michael Moritz's 2009 updated account of Apple's history — expanding The Little Kingdom to cover Apple's Jobs-less years, its near-death experience, and Jobs's return and the iPod revolution — with the perspective of Moritz having become a major VC in the interim.
American industrial designer who led Apple's industrial design group from 1989 to 1996 — establishing the design infrastructure and hiring practices (including hiring Jony Ive) that Ive then built upon — before leaving to found Ammunition Group.
American entrepreneur — co-founder of Apple, NeXT, and Pixar — whose second stint at Apple (1997–2011) produced the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and App Store — widely considered the most consequential product designer in history.
A comprehensive account of Apple's first 50 years — covering the founding by Jobs, Wozniak, and Wayne through the iPhone era and Tim Cook's leadership — tracing the company's transformations, near-death experience in the 1990s, and return to dominance.
Michael Moritz's 1984 account of Apple Computer's founding and early years — written from direct access to Jobs, Wozniak, and other key figures — which is the most detailed account of Apple's founding available from a contemporary observer.