“Among the many amazing things about Apple is how scrutinized it is. Rarely have a company, its products, and its top executive — the late Steve Jobs — been so thoroughly examined,” Adam Lashinsky reports for Fortune.
“And yet, for a corporation so frequently discussed, Apple is poorly understood,” Lashinsky reports. “Its products are ubiquitous, but information about the institution is scarce — which is exactly how Apple wants it.”
“Apple steers the conversation to its gadgets — for sale at an Apple store near you! — not its modus operandi,” Lashinsky reports. “In Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired–and Secretive–Company Really Works, I hope to shine a light on how this company labors to keep the world from knowing what’s going on inside its walls, with secrecy, both external and internal, being one of Apple’s key tools.”
Lashinsky reports, “It’s ironic, really. The business world keeps nattering on about the importance of corporate transparency, yet the most successful company in the world is beyond opaque. Born from a feature I wrote for Fortune last year, Inside Apple dissects Apple’s covert ways and provides a road map for less-buttoned-up companies to follow.”
Full article – recommended – here.
Don’t advertise your man…
People ask big companies to be TRANSPARENT on the expenditures (where money is being spent) not what technologies they are developing and how the company will enter new markets. Apples secrecy is no different then Mircosofts or Google – just tighter and WORKS…
To promote we will come to market with a better product called windows 8 — is not transparent.
Understanding why Microsoft can earn a royalty on deals with Android licences with assemblers is needed transparency. They are as opaque as any other.
The auto companies are just as secret. Witness the “spy shots” of upcoming models that are the staple of the auto press
Looks like the book is going to be a great read.
Like the National Enquirer
Transparency of financial matters is one thing. To insist companies be transparent about their product road maps and IP is ludicrous and the mere mention of it in this article smacks of grade-school level writing.
And FWIW I have NEVER heard “the business world nattering” about the need for more business transparency. Those calls come from other circles. The business world would prefer nobody knew their inner workings.
Secrecy can be a hindrance a times
Apple secrecy has lead to many rumours and much excitement and speculation, but…
IIRC, the company behind the Kinect technology had first approached Apple and was in talks/negotiations with Apple for months before becoming frustrated having to deal with this infamous secrecy and Apple’s way of doing things.
The company decided to move on and then approached Microsoft which accepted and developed what is now Kinect… and the rest is history. Kinect has proven to be quite successful for MS with new potential uses continually cropping up.
IMO, one of the few (known) missteps and lost opportunities by Apple in recent memory.
(Though Apple doesn’t have a game console, Apple patents seem to show interest in similar motion technology and may have let one get away.)
How would Apple have made the most of Kinect? There was no fit. Microsoft are into buying the gaming market, not Apple.
That was a fascinating article. I had not given much thought to the internal Apple culture. Apple sounds like a highly focused and intense place to work, and that undoubtedly comes with a good share of stress. But it sounds like it can also be highly fulfilling, and that is very important to me.
One of the aspects that would bother me is to shift up and down in the pecking order depending on your project – iOS versus Mac, for instance. I can understand it from the corporate perspective, but from the standpoint of a skilled and hardworking employee it must be a bit galling to fall down the hierarchy.
My guess is that the Apple culture is potentially fragile because it is somewhat unnatural from the standpoint of human nature. It must require great discipline at all levels to maintain and propagate that culture over the years.
Truly fascinating…
What separates the men from the boys is the ability to deliver, in whatever capacity you are. Merit is really the only criteria that deserves respect or reward, just like Apple’s products, be they software hardware or the resulting user experience.
People that can’t deliver excellence, or suffice with mediocrity, can go and work elsewhere. At Apple, most of the shining stars and future bright ones pride themselves on being able to deliver excellence, in fact that is usually what motivates and drives most that have talents and extraordinary skills, before looking for entitlements…there’s always a few worms in every Apple and eventually worms dry out.
So take all the cry babies that feel they deserve some special treatment for thier mere existence and lump them. A work place isn’t supposed to be a place for pampering, it’s a place for producing and making a mark.
If not for that kind of obvious priority and substance, you’d have an average dull and boring company that hires executives to just focus on ways to make money off mediocre ripped off and dull products. Don’t we all know a few?
Thank Apple and it’s high standards of excellence set buy Steve Jobs that put innovation, dedication and performance to work to creat superior products that reward the end user with a superior user experience that lasts and begets the unquivering loyalty that is every company’s envy.
Be sure that everyone at Apple that can do, gets due recognition, reward and is taken care of to the hilt. That is a fact.
Breeze, Great points. The US can learn an enormous amount from Apple. The left has been trying to turn us into a nation of whimps and losers for over a century and has succeeded in transforming about 1/3 so far. We need to make the US more like Apple!
Neither left nor right have a monopoly on talent, excellence, inspiration, brilliance nor quality. Those are really worthy and deserving of PRIDE.
I don’t disagree with the overall content of your post, breeze, although its tone was rather harsh. And, if you meant it as a counterpoint to my post, then I believe that you “breezed” right by my points and went off into your own macho direction.
My statement regarding the pecking order was based on the following statements in the article:
As I said, I can understand it from the corporate perspective, but from the standpoint of a skilled and hardworking employee it must be a bit galling to fall down the hierarchy.
With respect to your final statement (“Be sure that everyone at Apple that can do, gets due recognition, reward and is taken care of to the hilt. That is a fact.”), that is not necessarily true in any organization, not even Apple. According to one employee interviewed for the article:
I admire the focus and productivity of the Apple crew, and I envy their sense of fulfillment at changing the world with innovative products. But I suspect that the environment at Apple would be quite difficult for many people to endure for an extended period. I am not refuting its efficacy. But neither do I necessarily believe that every business should emulate Apple’s corporate model.
Think Different.
I found the article fascinating. I like the drive and focus, and am not particularly bothered by the secrecy. They have good reasons for it, and clearly it works. In fact, it confirms my view that working there would be really great. Besides, look at the results, their products are a joy to own!
On top of it all, just think of how much worse the technical world would be (and my work in particular), without Apple’s products. They deserve all the praise they get.
“The business world keeps nattering on about the importance of corporate transparency”
Yes it’s shocking that the most successful tech company in the world doesn’t like giving away trade secrets to its competitors!
*facepalm