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

Owen Linzmayer (Author), Owen W. Linzmayer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2004

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.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Owen Linzmayer's Apple Confidential is subtitled The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc., and while nobody will ever know the complete, "real" story about Apple, Linzmayer's is probably as close as they come. Having covered Apple news since 1980, he offers extensive insider details about Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, Gilbert Amelio, Bill Gates, and other major players whose lives were (and are) intertwined with Apple's history. And along the way, we also learn about lesser-known figures whose stories have remained hidden in the Apple myth: Ronald Gerald Wayne, for example, who was actually a partner with Wozniak and Jobs in the original incarnation of the company, but who sold his share when he realized he would be financially vulnerable if it should fail.

Linzmayer's tale does have a few drawbacks. Because he mixes a chronological narrative with chapters that focus on key points in the Apple story, he sometimes repeats himself. Case in point: the chapter "Big Bad Blunders" makes a great record of Apple's failures, but the story of the exploding Powerbook 5300s is duplicated at later points. Nonetheless, Apple Confidential is rife with gems that will appeal to Apple fanatics and followers of the computer industry. Especially enjoyable are the revelation of "Easter eggs" that are hidden in several versions of the Mac operating system; the many screen shots, timelines, and telling quotes from Jobs, Gates, Wozniak and others that populate the margins and concluding sections of each chapter; the "Code Names Uncovered" section that makes public the monikers of several secret Apple projects; and Bill Gates's 1985 letter to John Sculley and Jean Louis Gassee pleading for Apple to license Mac technology and develop a "standard personal computer." --Patrick O'Kelley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

For your Mac community, you can't go wrong with these titles. Linzmayer's Apple Confidential is an unofficial history of Apple and a great read. Pogue's MacWorld Mac Secrets explains all the oddities about any Mac still in use, while his iMac guide follows the format of the "Dummies" series. Poole's MacWorld Mac OS 8.5 Bible completely explains Mac 8.5, the newest operating system upgrade.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 323 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; 2nd edition (January 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593270100
• ISBN-13: 978-1593270100
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,051 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Home Computing & How-to > Mac Computers & Hardware
  • #63 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Human-Computer Interaction
  • #81 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Home Computing & How-to > OS X

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

236 of 238 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Creator of the Macintosh's Opinion May 13, 2000

By Jef Raskin

Format:Paperback

Of all the books written on Apple's history, this one comes closest to accurately relating the story of how the Mac was created, and other early Apple events.

I can't personally vouch for Linzmeyer's discussion of more recent history, because I left Apple a while ago, but having seen the results of his careful research where I personally took part in the events, and having seen the massive inaccuracies in many other books, I'd bet on his.

Some other books are more exciting reads, but that's because they're partially fiction. Linzmeyer has done his homework. But don't get the impression that this book is dull; it's fun, with many interesting tidbits and historical photographs.

This is the book to read if you are interested in fact rather than legend.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gossip, History, Trivia, Legends & Lore April 18, 2004

By therosen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book combines gossip, history, trivia and the legends & lore of one of America's most fascinating companies. The story starts with the two Steves making and selling boxes to confuse the phone system into granting free calls. It chronicals the development of Apple computer from the first Apple through the Lisa, endless varities of Macintosh and today's iPod. Throughout the story, the massive ups and collosal failures of this American instution are laid bare.

The layout is interesting as well. As characters are introduced, the reader frequently wonders "What happened to them?" More often than not, the question is answered in a sidebar. This showed that Apple wasn't just a great product developer, but also a great developer of silicon valley talent.

The book details the extremes of the players personalities:
- How Jobs agreet to split the proceeds of an Atari deal with Woz, only to keep 90% of the income himself.
- How Woz forced the company to go public early by sharing his stock with too many employees.
- How Gasse talked folks out of liscencing the technology until it was too late.
- How several successive CEOs tried in vain to save the company.

The book also details some lesser known stories from Apple's storied past:
- How the 1984 commercial almost never made it.
- How the company decided to abandon Copland. (& Why!)
- How the company got sued by Carl Sagan, and how they dug their ditch a little deeper.

There's a lot of "Hows" here, which really shows how deep the author gets into the company's history and soul. You come away with not just a knowledge of the people, but their personalities and why exactly things turned out the way they did....

This book is excellent reading for anyone interested in the world of technology, and an absolute must for fans of Apple. Read more ›

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best business books ever written March 25, 1999

By Bob Sassone ([e-mail])

Format:Paperback

This is a must-have book for any fan of Apple. It's possibly the most thorough - yet still readable - history of the company. It mixes business facts, behind-the-scenes secrets, and pop culture tidbits beautifully. Along the way, you'll learn the ins and outs of other computer companies (Microsoft, IBM, AOL, NeXT, Power Computing, Xerox PARC, etc) and a lot about the history of the industry in general and the players in particular.

Linzmayer is the author of "The Mac Bathroom Reader," and knows what he's talking about. Not only does "Apple Confindential" add more history that wasn't in that volume, but it's redesigned, updated to this year, and includes Steve Jobs' return and the iMac success.

In a word, breathtaking: It has quotes from everyone involved, timelines, products lists, a history, a little opinion, analysis, stock info, classic pictures. It's all here.

I'd write more, but I'm going to read it again. And I now know what to give other Apple fans for gifts.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read history with a few faults December 20, 2005

By Robert Pratte VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Linzmayer's book is an excellent addition to the library of any computer enthusiast and/or historian. This is a well-written, comprehensive work covering a broad range of Apple topics: the development of the Macintosh, the executives, the spin-offs (NeXT and Be), etc.. For a high-level overview of the company to OS X, this is a fine work. One particular feature that I loved was the inclusion of sidebar information, providing background, quotes (many of these are fantastic), and "where are they now" information without distracting the reader.

That said, Linzmayer doesn't sound entirely objective and his likes and dislikes seem rather apparent. That said, if you read this book with a certain political bent (particularly a pro-Jobs one), then you may not like the way certain events are portrayed. A further complaint is the focus on executives without providing enough (in my opinion) about the engineers and thinkers. Personally, I think that more on Woz, Tribble, Tesler, Hertzfeld, etc. would be worth far more than the highs and lows of Sculley's marketing dreams. In this regard, I would say that the best history of Apple, particularly from a technical standpoint is Hertzfeld's Revolution in the Valley.

Bottom line: This is an excellent overview of Apple history. Included among a library of works - I might mention the excellent bibliography included in the book - then Apple Confidential rounds things out wonderfully. A few caveats aside, I recommend reading this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Apple Confidential 2.0 April 11, 2004

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Apple Computer has always been a fascination for me. Ever since I heard of them, I thought they were a top-notch company, providing quality computers for the consumer with a lot of disposable cash. Computers in general were much more expensive when they first hit the market and Apple offered the first home machines. I've never owned a home computer until 2000. I remember doing so much research. As my wife is a photographer, Apple came to the front, with their reputation for excellent image handling. We decided to purchase an iMac. This purchase was followed with buying an iBook in 2001 for my wife.

To this day, I continue to be amazed by our Macs and what we've been able to do and learn since we got them. Now, if only the budget had room for a loaded G5, I know where we would be headed.

Shortly after our Mac came home, we found The NorthWest of Us, a Chicago area Macintosh User Group and joined up. There has been no better source of support for whatever troubles needed troubleshooting. Beside the support, I was struck with the passion of these people who used Mac computers and could not really understand the profound enthusiasm they had for their platform of choice. Simply, I felt that Macs were very efficient and quite easy to use and that's what we hoped for when we purchased ours. I was looking for something that would help me to understand a bit more about the mystique surrounding Apple Computer and it's products. I found Apple Confidential 2.0.

This book covers the how's and why's of Apple's start up and the passion of the founders, especially Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. You can see the genius of them as they put everything they owned on the line to create the first personal computers-Woz for his passion to create and design, Steve for his desire for perfection and success.... You can easily understand how their personalities first nurtured each other and how they would come to necessarily separate themselves from each other.

Apple Confidential 2.0 gives you insight to many corporate business decisions, both amazing and really stupid. As I read, I found myself wondering how this company managed to survive at all. The book contains many time lines following the life cycles of the Apple I and II, the ill-fated Apple III and Lisa, the multitudinous computer variations offered for sale (my gosh, how confusing!) and the Mac OS. Yes, there's more, but these were the most interesting for me. I found the fumbling that went on within the company to be nothing if not infuriating, the misdirection, the false starts and, most of all, the loss of product quality and innovation. Lately, I often wondered why one of my coworkers hated Macs. After reading about the thousands of defective Macs put on the market instead of in the garbage heap, sure enough, it was one of those that she had to put up with and could not wait to dump! If I had been a Mac user then, I'm sure I'd be in her camp too.

The business decisions made over the years at Apple can make your head spin. The issue of licensing the Mac OS is a fascinating read; back and forth, over and over again. If Apple had licensed their OS early on, I'm sure we would be in a 'Windows-free' world. After all, that's what Bill Gates would have preferred anyway. (Of course, you have to wonder just how virus-free the Mac OS would be if it were on 95+% of the computers out there too.)

Then, there's Bill Gates and his ties to Apple-something I thought could never have occurred, but I didn't realize that he was NOT the competition in the first place. Rather, it appears that he was one of the foremost proponents of the Apple computer. Again, I'm relatively new to owning a home computer, but I knew all along that Mac people could not stand Microsoft. I was really surprised to learn that Word and Excel were originally Macintosh programs. I never knew that, but it makes sense when you consider the vastness of the installed base of those Office products-and just how much $$$ Bill gets from Office for Mac users.

Apple Confidential 2.0 is a very good read. You don't have to read it cover-to-cover, although once I picked it up, there was no way I was going to skip around. My wife, who's more disconnected from OS platforms that I am, picked it up and I had to insist she give it back so I could finish it. Owen's writing style is excellent, giving just enough humor to keep you interested. Although you could consider it a course study book, this book is for anyone who is a Mac enthusiast or someone interested in touching on business history. It has many pictures and great sidebar information and quotes, many of those really surprising and funny.

As with any history book, Owen has placed in it what he saw as the most salient issues surrounding Apple and not everything, by his admission, is included. One issue I think should have been touched on was drugs. I remember a made-for-TV movie that was broadcast several years ago. It may have been called 'Pirates of Silicon Valley', but I'm not sure. The movie was spun toward Bill Gates and what he did with regard to Apple. In it, several major players were depicted to have been pretty deep into LSD and other drugs. True? Or not? I'm leaning toward true. If you read this book, I think it's the only thing that would make sense of the really strange turns the company took.

Everything considered, I highly recommend Apple Confidential 2.0 both for it's "definitive history of the world's most colorful company" and for it's easy, fun readability.

Thank You, Owen! Read more ›