Did you know that Jony Ive never unpacked his own bags after he checked into a hotel when he traveled with Steve Jobs? Instead, he would simply sit down on his bed and wait for the phone to ring. Jobs would call him, and say "Hey, Jony. This hotel sucks. Let’s go!"
Such was Jobs' demand for excellence, and such are the awesomeness of the anecdotes that litter Tripp Mickle's exceptional book about Apple in the wake of Steve Jobs' passing and Tim Cooks's rise to the position of CEO.
I had the privilege of reading this book ahead of its release last year and I absolutely loved it. It has a very loaded title: How Apple became a trillion-dollar company and lost its soul. That doesn't leave much to the imagination when it comes to Mickle's own feelings about Apple post-Jobs, but the book is so well written that it's really easy to enjoy it even if you don't agree with him. Right now it's discounted on Amazon and I can't recommend it highly enough.
After Steve — go inside Apple like never before
As I said, I like After Steve as much for the anecdotes and inside scoops as I do for its premise, which I felt less persuaded by. For instance, did you know that leaking the Beats acquisition cost Dr. Dre $200 million? Or that the iPod nearly didn't make it as a concept? Apple execs hated the stainless steel, the molded body, and the fact that the logo was on the back and not the front. In fact, they didn't even like the color, its iconic white, a new saturated shade Apple called "moon gray."
If you want to know how Tim Cook fired Scott Forstall, or who went to Jony Ive's 50th birthday party, then this is the book for you. Packed full of great stories, if you're happy to listen to it on Audible you can literally have it for free. Enjoy, I certainly did.
