Behind Closed Doors: Adam Lashinsky uncovers Apple in his new book
It’s no secret that Apple is the most secretive company in the world (pardon the pun). Fortune Tech Sr. Editor Adam Lashinsky‘s book “Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired — and Secretive — company really works” was released today, and I’m tipping it to be a big hit this year.
Never judge a book by its cover, because this one is particularly boring…
Now let me clear one thing up. I wholeheartedly believe this book is not designed to manufacture the demise of Apple, by revealing all its business secrets and inner workings, so that every business in America can copy them. This is just an eye opening, in-depth look at what goes on behind the scenes, which I think will be fascinating to read. (For the record: If you are reading this in 2013, and this book did in fact bring about the demise of Apple, which has since gone into administration, apologies.)
The book follows on from an incredibly popular feature article Lashinsky published last year. Now I know what many of you might be thinking; “My iDevice is awesome, why do I need to know what Tim Cook has for breakfast?”. All I can say in reply is “Why wouldn’t you want to know?”. When it comes to their own job, Apple employees are some of the most ill-informed people on the planet. Make no mistake, they are fantastic at their jobs. But most of them don’t know what’s happening in the next room. Especially when a new product is in the pipelines, which at Apple, is probably all the time. In a brief article outlining his book, which can be read here, Lashinsky explains just why Apple is the most secretive company in the world.
“Apple employees know something big is afoot when the carpenters appear in their office building. New walls are quickly erected. Doors are added and new security protocols put into place. Windows that once were transparent are now frosted. Other rooms have no windows at all. They are called lockdown rooms: No information goes in or out without a reason.”
This all sounds a little extreme to some, but it makes sense. All companies in some way have secrets. The most obvious ones are probably the secret technologies that a company wishes to keep under wraps, and that’s perfectly reasonable. A little more unnerving is internal secrecy. Within the company store at 1 Infinite Loop is a t-shirt that says “I visited the Apple campus. But that’s all I’m allowed to say.” Apple has been known to hire employees who aren’t even told what their job description is until they join the company. Apple doesn’t even tell its new employees how to connect their new Mac to the servers at Apple.
This is merely a taster of what’s to come in this book, and if you find you desire to hear more, I would recommend buying it. As I mentioned at the start, I think this book will be like all products associated with Apple. It will either be a great success, or it’ll end in a lawsuit. Either way I hope to acquire it in the next few days, and I think looking through it might even make a fantastic feature for the site (I haven’t mentioned that to my superiors yet). I’ll keep track of this book and its reviews over the next few days. Until then, what do you think? Are any of you going to buy/ have already bought this book? Or are you simply not interested in Apple’s inner workings? Post up below!
Via: Fortune Tech
