Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company

by Owen W. Linzmayer

Apple Confidential examines the tumultuous history of America's best-known Silicon Valley start-up--from its legendary founding almost 30 years ago, through a series of disastrous executive decisions, to its return to profitability, and including Apple's recent move into the music business. Linzmayer digs into forgotten archives and interviews the key players to give readers the real story of Apple Computer, Inc. This updated and expanded edition includes tons of new photos, timelines, and charts, as well as coverage of new lawsuit battles, updates on former Apple executives, and new chapters on Steve Wozniak and Pixar.

Genres: Apple, Nonfiction, History, Business, Computers, Technology, Reference

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to all those aspiring entrepreneurs who have a vision of changing the world around them and feel that they are too small to do so. I would recommend this book to anyone who is considering starting a business and those individuals that are fans of Apple Computers, as well as to Steve Jobs and his fellow founders. The book highlights the founding of Apple Computers and gives an array of perspectives. You will get to read comments made by Stephen Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and other founding employees as well as their competitors at the time. While many believe that Steve Jobs was the primal founder of Apple, Linzmayer provides the full background information that is crucial to its authentic history. Wozniak was the one that designed and created the first Apple Computers, while it was Jobs genius marketing and vision that took his creations and saw the potential for a business. Steve Jobs was an adamant worker, and idealized to revolutionize the industry at the time. The duo started the business during their time as college students, though Jobs dropped out after the first semester. Wozniak was inspired to create and design the first Apple computer because he had a passion for electronics and engineering. He was interested in supplying computers to fellow hobbyist and did not share in Job’s vision for a personal computer market. They nonetheless sold their prized possession to acquire some money and recruited Ronald Wayne as a third party to their company. They filed partnership on April fools day in 1976 and it was not until later that year that they got their first order from Byte Shop. While their company was working out of Job’s parent’s garage the band of young men remained enthusiastic that their design would be revolutionary. Their success in that order brought the attention of retired businessman Mike Markkula Jr. who sought to invest in the company $92,000 and secured a $250,000 line of credit. It was under Markkula’s leadership that the company began to expand. Wozniak and fellow founding employees began to work on the Apple II and continuously upgraded this model. Steve Jobs began to push for a new model: the Lisa. It was initially a failure and due to the losses the company faced and Jobs management style, Jobs was forced to resign the same year that Wozniak resigned due to personal reasons. Jobs did not come back into the picture until 1997 when John Sculley, acting CEO resigned. He was given leadership over a new model, the Mac. Jobs brought together his old working team from their garage days and even recruited Wozniak to help design the mouse. It again was a failure but Steve Jobs was undeterred he gained leadership of the company and implemented an innovation stage. Linzmayer does a great job of going through every detail regarding Apple’s founding and those involved in its success and failures. He even gives timelines to help guide you through each production and gives extensive information on each project, person, and idea that was involved in the company as well as its competition. It is a must read if you love business ventures, Apple, and a good drama.

[Balaji Dutt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping this book would provide an in-depth analysis of some of the key moments in Apple's history. Instead I got a random collection of facts and very general descriptions. For example, knowing that Apple I and IIs had the signatures of all the employees who worked on it in the case is interesting, printing each signature and what that person is doing now is overkill. Light, but extremely unsatisfying reading.

[Mick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read on the history of Apple, from the very beginning, up until the the introduction of iTunes and iPods in the early naughts. The iPhone is only referenced on one of the timelines.
I recently read Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made, so this was a great pairing.
It was good to fill in some gaps, especially from the post Jobs firing, covering the other CEOs and even Jobs @ NeXT and Pixar.
My only gripe was the final few chapters (eg the return of Jobs) were glanced over, with very little depth. It would have been nice to hear more about the making of the iMac and even the iPod/ iTunes. Especially with how in-depth the earlier tech was covered.
Some of the other Apple tech wasn't covered either eg the Apple Quicktake digital camera.
It's too bad the book finishes about 2004, with so much happening since eg iPhone, iWatches, Apple TV etc, so I would definitely read an updated version of the book.

[Lj Glover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talks about apples technology. I like how they describe all the gadgets that they have made. The apple company has been arounf of years and now they are just blowing up. They are now one of the most succesful companies in the business.