Introduction

The death of Steve Jobs in October 2011 marked the end of a remarkable 15 year period for Apple. Upon returning to Apple in 1997, Jobs completely transformed the business strategies and culture of the company. Today, Apple is one of the most well-known and valuable companies in the world. Inside Apple breaks into the vault of highly guarded business secrets that have allowed become what it is today. The book offers details about the company, suppliers, investors, employees, and competitors. It also discusses the vital role of Jobs and his leadership. Finally, Inside Apple tries to predict what will happen to Apple now that Jobs is no longer with the company. The book should appeal to anyone who has any interest in the technology industry.

Steve Jobs

The success of Apple in the 21^st century has been well documented. In the fourth quarter of 2011, more iPhones were sold than babies born in the world (Holbrook, 2012). However, the company was in a much different state fifteen years prior when it was ninety days from insolvency. What changes were made at Apple to turn the company around? Lashinsky gives most of the credit to one man, Steve Jobs. His unorthodox business strategies would make most companies fall apart, but at Apple they brought the company together. Lashinsky does not hide the true personality of Jobs from the reader. There are numerous references from past and current employees describing his tyrannical and “a-hole” personality. Steve Jobs was a rule-breaker, but the author details throughout the book how Jobs took the rule-breaking approach and applied it to the whole company (Veverka, 2012).

From the perspective of Apple employees, Lashinsky highlights the love-hate relationship almost everyone had with Jobs.  Employees were often over-worked and felt under-appreciated at times, but they all bought into the core message Jobs engrained into the company: “produce the best-quality products for customers” (Holbrook, 2012). Further, the author suggests to the reader that Jobs “allowed the company to retain the nimble feel of a start-up” even as it grew to be a multi-billion dollar company. I think this shows how forwarding thinking Jobs was about the image of Apple and how he wanted to be portrayed as the face of the company.

Apple Executive Team

While Lashinsky gives much of the credit for Apple’s turnaround to Steve Jobs, he does not forget to go into detail about each member of the executive team. Lashinsky describes the executives as “talented rich kids” who have just as much freedom as Jobs. They have access to infinite resources and money because they must do whatever it takes to create insanely great products (Heath, 2012). The head of Apple product design, Jonathan Ive, famously requested that Italian marble for Apple’s first New York City store be flown first to California for him to inspect. The author makes it clear that there is no finite amount of money that will hold Apple back from being able to make its products. 

           

Lashinsky also focuses on the commitment each member of the elite executive team has to Jobs and the company. Before each Monday meeting of the executive team, executives will spend Sunday evening prepping with their employees (Heath, 2012). I think the commitment showcased by the author highlights the unique corporate culture at Apple that I have not seen anywhere else. Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook, is described by Lashinsky as a man with a “prodigious memory and command of the facts.” I agree with the author Cook along with the other members of the executive team each embody certain aspects of Jobs and offer the best chance for Apple to continue being successful. 

Secrecy is Paramount

Another argument Lashinsky gives for Apple’s successful business strategies is the choice to remain secret. Apple goes to ridiculous lengths to keep its secrets from the outside world and even its own employees. Apple employees live in constant fear of termination if they divulge anything about how the company works. A recent example of termination occurred when an iPhone 4 prototype was lost in a bar in April 2010. Tech media outlets offered thousands of dollars for the prototype. No one knows what happened to the intoxicated Apple employee, but he no longer works at Apple. Fortunately, sales of the iPhone 4 were not hurt by the leak.

Lashinsky goes into detail how secrecy works as a business strategy. First, Apple does not make products for its customers. Instead, it creates products its employees would want. Further, Apple says no to many suggestions given by consumers to improve its products. Next, Apple relies on consumer generated rumors to advertise future products. Everyone knows roughly when the next Apple release will take place on year length scales, but Lashinsky points out that the rumors related to product details only enhance the desire for consumers to purchase the Apple product. The only real analog to Apple’s secrecy tactic I can think of is the movie industry. Rumors about movie series drive consumers to theatres especially when the movie is based on a true story or book. 

Future of Apple

In the final section of Inside Apple, Lashinsky explains from his perspective the current state of Apple and the direction they are heading. "Over the next 15 years or so," states Lashinsky, we "will get to watch the drama of whether Apple has truly found a way to cheat the hangman's noose or if the period between 1997-2012 or so was a golden aberration driven by one extraordinary individual, the likes of which we will never see again. If the former is true, then Apple will defy almost all of business history” (Veverka, 2012). Although he predicts that Apple will dominate its rivals for the next several years, over the long term Lashinsky argues that the odds are against Apple (Holbrook, 2012). I found this section to be most interesting and I agree with the author on what Apple will become without Steve Jobs. With all of that said, Steve Jobs' legacy might well defy the skepticism of critics, and of business history generally, as the Apple CEO so often did in life (Veverka, 2012). Further, now that Steve is gone, the competition still does not have Steve Jobs. 

Apple and the NSA

 The book neglects to talk about one aspect of technology companies that has been in the media recently, security. After the release of many classified documents by Edward Snowden about the National Security Agency (NSA). Many questions have been raised about the safety of private information by technology users. Companies like ATT and Google (who have already been tapped by the NSA) have vowed to begin protecting users by encrypting their data. With the release of the iPhone 5s, which contains fingerprint reading technology, speculation about fingerprint database sharing with the NSA and FBI has gone public. I think if Jobs were to still be alive, he would do whatever it takes to protect the customer from the leaking of their personal information. I am skeptical that the new executives at Apple will respond the same way as Jobs now that Apple isn’t as private of a company.