FREE eBook: Anatomy of an Apple - The Lessons Steve Taught Us

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grababargain on 14/02/2014 - 16:50 amazon.com (985 clicks)
Last edited 14/02/2014 - 19:59

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Save US$10.02;
Length: 447 pages (estimated);
Publication Date: December 26, 2013;
Author: Ben Klaiber.

eBook is also free on Amazon AU (save A$11.19) and UK (save £6.30) sites:
http://www.amazon.com.au/Anatomy-Apple-Lessons-Steve-Taught-…
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anatomy-Apple-Lessons-Steve-Taught-e…
eBook is A$5.99 on iTunes AU and US$9.99 on iTunes US.

Book Description from Amazon

Steve Jobs, a self taught college dropout, accomplished repeated business miracles. What did he do that MBA's, tech pundits and competitors repeatedly missed? Why are they in denial about it to this day?

90 days from bankruptcy, Apple welcomed home its founder in 1996. In just a few years, Steve Jobs accomplished the impossible - Apple was now a Trillion dollar juggernaut in Music, Books, SmartPhones, Tablets, Laptops and more. Learn the often overlooked, misunderstood or misrepresented lessons that made it all possible.

•Meticulous myth-busting of major Technology history through surgical cross-examination!
•Apple's tale of redemption and renewal powerfully conveyed through an engaging and unforgettable storytelling…
•Fresh Business lessons about what it took for Apple to return from the brink of disaster from an experienced midwestern businessman!

˃˃˃ Anatomy of an Apple turns the abstract business concepts behind Apple's astounding comeback into easily digestible everyday business lessons.From start to finish, you will be treated to a feast of life changing anecdotes, piquant down and dirty myth-busting and utterly refreshing, setting-the-record-straight facts and figures. Anatomy of an Apple is an engaging and knowledgeable romp through technology history.

Anatomy of an Apple takes us on a thrilling journey through the highs and lows of Steve's fascinating life across several business eras, including Apple, NeXT, and Pixar.

˃˃˃ Anatomy of an Apple isn't another dispassionate attempt to examine Apple in the laboratory. We get right to the heart of the real people involved and discuss the real outcomes and motivations of their actions and decisions. We present our view of each lesson in whatever form that can most benefit people trying to be successful in life and business. Some chapters are vivid stories, some are detailed history lessons, and some are concise arguments against commonly held misconceptions.

˃˃˃ How these two entities, Steve the man, and Apple the company, healed each other. Ben Klaiber been a huge business fan of Steve Jobs for years. Steve's lessons helped keep him alive in both the literal and financial senses over the harshest years of his life. The lessons of Apple's comeback were invaluable to him, but the existing books just didn't convey the lessons he saw. After a decade of meticulous research, Ben decided to write a book on Steve's and Apple's comeback from his unique perspective.

In Anatomy of an Apple - The Lessons Steve Taught Us, we learn a very different story than the one told by the other books - how these two entities, Steve the man, and Apple the company, healed each other.

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• 

  mycosys on 14/02/2014 - 17:07

  +7

  Definite read - the minds of psychopaths are fascinating, Jobs was one of the best.
  Slave driver, rude, derogatory, rode others inventions and still somehow people worshipped him and were drawn to him

  • 

    smokenmirraz on 14/02/2014 - 17:22

    +1

    All praise the great almighty iJobs!

• 

  tenshi13 on 14/02/2014 - 17:07

  thanks OP

• 

  wiltonson on 14/02/2014 - 17:09

  thanks. looks interesting

• 

  shaybisc on 14/02/2014 - 17:27

  What are the lessons? Don't pay taxes- screw your workers.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 14/02/2014 - 17:29

  Lesson 1 - Treat them as sheep.

  • 

    outlander on 14/02/2014 - 18:21

    +3

    Lesson 2 - pick a single outfit, and stick with it. Works for cartoon characters, fastfood employees, and now it can work for you.

    • 

      StewBalls on 14/02/2014 - 19:23

      Lesson 3 - Jobs did not invent the black turtle-neck, but he does deserve credit for being the first to recognize its use as a douchebag garment.

      • 

        montorola on 14/02/2014 - 19:39

        +1

        Lesson 4 - Put an 'i' infront of everything, and the sheep will follow

      • 

        [Deactivated] on 14/02/2014 - 20:57

        +4

        iAmASheep.

• 

  tonyjzx on 14/02/2014 - 18:20

  +2

  lock customers into a walled garden of planned obsolescence

• 

  smartazz104 on 14/02/2014 - 19:32

  Not showing as free now…

• 

  cheepwun on 14/02/2014 - 20:45

  -1

  • encourage bothersome surgery to replace the battery to keep battery prices high and the number of retailers offering battery replacement services low. Many others doing the same thing.
  • never consider using MicroSD; instead charge a comparative fortune for models in different (fixed) storage sizes, despite the difference between 32 and 64 GB in MicroSD (for example) being minimal…never offer the user the choice to decide on how much storage they desire, nevermind buy it more cheaply in ones-and-twos while you source in the millions and still charge exorbitantly.
  • collaborate with the NSA (as they all do) because thinking different is being the same as everyone else, and encouraging full access to our phones and data
  • avoid repatriating profits and avoid taxes like every major multinational does (Google included)
  • keep churning out phones in suicide-laden factories and do little to encourage a more egalitarian payment appraoch (as all the corporations are doing who employ foxconn and others)

  To be fair, they innovated on the GUI and materials used in touchscreens and their influence here is unavoidable in today's market. Beyond that, they are just like (m)any other corporations.

  • 

    smartazz104 on 14/02/2014 - 21:14

    -3

    Collaborate with NSA, anything to back up your assertions or is your tin foil hat screwed on too tight? Suicide-laden factories, what's that exactly? Thousands of people have committed suicide have they? What was the point of posting these points when half apply to every other company. As for storage, well, how many android users carry around microSD cards? No one wants to do that.

    • 

      cheepwun on 14/02/2014 - 23:14

      Keep believing, even after all the NSA revelations…just keep believing they didn't collaborate. Just like the usual dumbie thought that the 'assertions' that Microsoft collaborated with the NSA years ago was "conspiracy theory" long before it was proven.

      Collaborate with NSA, anything to back up your assertions or is your tin foil hat screwed on too tight?

      I love those tinfoil hat lines. They always make me smile. In case you weren't keeping score, the tin-foil hat brigade has won, and won by a landslide. If you haven't been keeping score, I suggest you check the scoreboard sometime. You forgot to also mention the words "conspiracy theory", which raise more chuckles from me. Keep waiting for that evidence to be presented to you on a silver platter, from your favourite corporate news outlet at prime-time as you get back from work…

      http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-30/how-nsa-hacks-your-…

      Thousands of people have committed suicide have they?

      Did I say thousands? One is enough.

      What was the point of posting these points when half apply to every other company.

      Because the topic is Apple, and I'm illustrating how they are no better than any other company with regards to tax avoidance and corporate (ir)responsibility, social (ir)responsibility and environmental (ir)responsibility. I am trying to illustrate how they are just another corporation screwing over their users privacy and are just like others. You could I'm giving some balance to the sugar-coated crap we hear in the media about this company.

      As for storage, well, how many android users carry around microSD cards? No one wants to do that.

      Say what?
      Countless non-Apple phones have MicroSD slots. It allows easy & cheap storage. Do you actually like being ripped off with Apple's fixed storage models? Have you priced the difference between the sizes? Unbelievable.

      This is OzBargain, right? People tend to understand cheaper storage, right?

      • 

        SBOB on 14/02/2014 - 23:19

        Indeed.. Which is why the nexus range is so popular… Oh wait… No microsd card therd

      • 

        cheepwun on 14/02/2014 - 23:35

        -1

        All sorts of companies do the fixed storage thing.

        It means they get to profit on the storage as well, rather than letting you buy it yourself in more competitive channels. There are obviously lots of dumbies that don't care.

        It's embarrassing to see so many companies doing this and the non-user-replaceable battery thing (Moto G, for instance). Greed…waste.

        If anything I'm trying to suggest that the practice is absolutely anti-customer, no matter who does it. And that Apple isn't so different from the rest of the industry. And that all the glowing talk of the company and its founder needs to be balanced with a bit of reality.

      • 

        SBOB on 15/02/2014 - 07:31

        How can a company be anti customer?
        If they make certain design etc decisions and the market doesn't want it, no one buys it's unsuccessful…

        Clearly things like non expandable storage, non replaceable battery etc are all 'features' that a large majority of customers do not find a (significant) negative…
        These might be important to you, so you buy a phone that has these.. If the majority of the market thought these were important iPhone, nexus etc lines would not be as successful as they are..

      • 

        cheepwun on 16/02/2014 - 17:12

        -1

        How can a company be anti customer?

        By taking away the ability to carry a spare battery and do a quick swap. By not allowing the user to use or re-use MicroSD memory of their choice. By charging exorbitantly for battery replacements and different sizes of fixed-storage phone models where the only difference is the storage size. By making it a huge hassle to replace batteries for 99.99% of the population who don't tinker and wouldn't dream of taking a screwdriver, spudger or heat gun to their gear. And again charging an arm-and-a-leg for battery replacement.
        http://www.apple.com/au/batteries/replacements.html

        And lasty by collaborating with the filthy NSA and various gov agencies which in practice violate your basic privacy rights.

        If they make certain design etc decisions and the market doesn't want it, no one buys it's unsuccessful…

        Yes, but few people care about longevity when buying a new item, or the items I mentioned. Few consider it. Therefore, the practice continues. The constant disposal and re-consumption continues. The total disregard for workers, environment and tax avoidance continues. All these things can be considered anti-customer because the companies are taking far more than giving, and the average customer just sees their ads.

        Your argument is a bit like arguing McDonald's is good and they are doing good food and good farming practices and good environmental practice and good animal rights because they are hugely successful. The market is - on the whole - ignorant of just what parasites these corporations are. And their items are sold under multi-million dollar advertising campaigns. Longevity and environmental responsibility doesn't get the attention of the public because the reality is rarely ever even presented to the public, so they can make an informed decision. Most can't. All the while the companies will love telling us that they're 'green', which is total lip service to the supposed concern for the environment.

        Clearly things like non expandable storage, non replaceable battery etc are all 'features' that a large majority of customers do not find a (significant) negative…

        Hence my line about most dumbies not caring. The point stands: downtime when there shouldn't be any (battery swaps and replacement) and high cost to do it through official channels. The iPad itself, can you imagine going through all this to get to the battery? http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+3+4G+Teardown/8277 For all practical purposes, this is designed for limited life and disposal.

        Speaking of battery, nearly all customers are unaware of how they lose their capacity when they age. By that time they have often replaced their gear rather than had it working years into the future with a more sensible battery design. Apple is anti-customer because they take the power the customer once had (replacing batteries) and make things 'fixed'. They are anti-customer because they don't allow the customer the customer to choose how much storage they want on their own terms. On top of the corporate irresponsibility that just means they never give back to the communities from which they take and benefit from.

        These might be important to you, so you buy a phone that has these.. If the majority of the market thought these were important iPhone, nexus etc lines would not be as successful as they are..

        Most of the market doesn't care, which is what I was saying earlier. At least not until they get stung with disposal and replacement costs.

        Whether an item is successful or not depends on many factors. Apple had success with their iPod because what they did better they did much better than MiniDisc and other technologies out at the time (Sony were on a DRM spree). Sony got its butt handed to them. They built on that success with iPhone and iPad. They did groundbreaking UI work and they should be credited with making smartphones acceptable to the unwashed masses. For years, the iPhone brand was iconic and unique and it had a huge head start over the competition.

        The other factors that encouraged more disposable e-waste (embedded batteries, fixed storage) rarely got a look-in. What's worse, Sony is often copying Apple's approach rather than being an innovator, which it clearly was, particularly before they bought into the entertainment biz with their purchase of CBS. Many of Apple's competitors play copy-cat too. After all it makes them more money by limiting choice.

        These companies want maximum profit (as any corp does) and want to artificially limit storage and battery choice in the market and want to artificially limit device life when in reality far less can go wrong with non-mechanical devices. And they are doing it without most people noticing. Because while we love to talk green, we are disposing electronics at an alarming rate today. More than ever.

      • 

        lostn on 17/02/2014 - 01:01

        Like someone said. It's designed to be simple because they know that they'll also sell to less tech savvy people (noobs, computer illiterates, whatever you want to call them), and they don't want those people fiddling with the phone or breaking something. The less things these guys are allowed to do with their phone, the less service and tech support you have to give them.

        If they designed it for power users, they'd make it less restricted, but then they'd also make less sales.

        Who can say no to money? Not Apple.

        The other factors that encouraged more disposable e-waste (embedded batteries, fixed storage) rarely got a look-in. What's worse, Sony is often copying Apple's approach rather than being an innovator

        Sony still makes Xperia phones with removable battery and SD card slot. Not all of them, but a lot of them. I haven't seen one without SD slot in a while.

      • 

        cheepwun on 17/02/2014 - 11:49

        Sony still makes Xperia phones with removable battery and SD card slot. Not all of them, but a lot of them. I haven't seen one without SD slot in a while.

        Yes, true.

        When I wrote that I was thinking of their Walkman range more than anything.

        I still have a hard time dealing with their standard Walkmans which are all fixed storage sizes and have embedded batteries and nearly all of them have the same approach as Apple. In the past they used to use removable gumstick batteries (Ni-MH and Li-Ion) as well as AAs and their remote controllers used to be the best. They also don't allow the customer to buy a small walkman (ie. a Walkman with just a simple LCD display to play audio) and at the same time have big storage in it (like a removable 32/64GB MicroSD), for instance. When you buy a small Walkman, you're stuck with the embarrassingly small storage they give you as well as the embedded battery.
        http://www.sony.com.au/view/View.action?page=HPHubSeriesDeta…
        http://www.sony.com.au/view/View.action?page=HPHubSeriesDeta…

        Most people use phones these days, but it bothers me that their standard Walkman range is so shitty and lacks innovation and is designed for disposal when it never used to be in the past.

• 

  lostn on 15/02/2014 - 00:43

  Summary: Fleece your customers as much as possible, get them to do the marketing for you.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 15/02/2014 - 01:19

  I like Jobs.

  His success goes to highlight just how easily-led and superficial we are as a species. His empire is built on our worship of aesthetics over practicality. I guess that is the nature of 'design', but it's a sad reality to be reminded of, IMO.

  I'll give him credit though. iThings are wonderfully simple. For simple people. Sometimes simplicity is nice.

  Unless you actually like having more freedom, ability, and you value purpose and fine detail.

  • 

    SBOB on 15/02/2014 - 07:36

    "His empire is built on our worship of aesthetics over practicality"

    So no apple device is both aesthetically well designed as well as practical?

    "Unless you actually like having more freedom, ability, and you value purpose and fine detail."

    So you're just applying an anti-iPhone line to all apple products? Sometimes non simple people just want devices that are very well designed and work for their task incredibly well.. This includes hardware of software.

    But as with every windows v Mac, Android v iPhone etc thread in the world there isn't much point.. ;-)
    (typing this from a nexus 5 before the fanboi comments)

• 

  montorola on 16/02/2014 - 08:54

  I don't know about you guys, but what annoys me about crapple is the same boring look they've had for their iPhones all the time, what happened to thinking different?

  • 

    lostn on 16/02/2014 - 14:39

    I imagine their answer will be something along the lines of..

    When you've achieved perfection, why do you need to tinker with it?

• 

  cheepwun on 17/02/2014 - 11:48

  (please delete; responded in wrong area)