Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Amazon Prime includes:
Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.
Amazon Prime members enjoy:- Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
- Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
- Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
- A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
- Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
- Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access
Important: Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.
-43% $17.00$17.00
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Cha Book
$15.95$15.95
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Zoom Books Company
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
OK
Audible sample Sample
After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul Hardcover – May 3, 2022
Purchase options and add-ons
From the New York Times' Tripp Mickle, the dramatic, untold story inside Apple after the passing of Steve Jobs by following his top lieutenants—Jony Ive, the Chief Design Officer, and Tim Cook, the COO-turned-CEO—and how the fading of the former and the rise of the latter led to Apple losing its soul.
Steve Jobs called Jony Ive his “spiritual partner at Apple.” The London-born genius was the second-most powerful person at Apple and the creative force who most embodies Jobs’s spirit, the man who designed the products adopted by hundreds of millions the world over: the iPod, iPad, MacBook Air, the iMac G3, and the iPhone. In the wake of his close collaborator’s death, the chief designer wrestled with grief and initially threw himself into his work designing the new Apple headquarters and the Watch before losing his motivation in a company increasingly devoted more to margins than to inspiration.
In many ways, Cook was Ive’s opposite. The product of a small Alabama town, he had risen through the ranks from the supply side of the company. His gift was not the creation of new products. Instead, he had invented countless ways to maximize a margin, squeezing some suppliers, persuading others to build factories the size of cities to churn out more units. He considered inventory evil. He knew how to make subordinates sweat with withering questions.
Jobs selected Cook as his successor, and Cook oversaw a period of tremendous revenue growth that has lifted Apple’s valuation to $2 trillion. He built a commanding business in China and rapidly distinguished himself as a master politician who could forge global alliances and send the world’s stock market into freefall with a single sentence.
Author Tripp Mickle spoke with more than 200 current and former Apple executives, as well as figures key to this period of Apple’s history, including Trump administration officials and fashion luminaries such as Anna Wintour while writing After Steve. His research shows the company’s success came at a cost. Apple lost its innovative spirit and has not designed a new category of device in years. Ive’s departure in 2019 marked a culmination in Apple’s shift from a company of innovation to one of operational excellence, and the price is a company that has lost its soul.
- Print length512 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow
- Publication dateMay 3, 2022
- Dimensions6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100063009811
- ISBN-13978-0063009813
Frequently bought together
Similar items that may deliver to you quickly
- “We rarely control the timing of opportunities, but we can control our preparation,” he said.Highlighted by 207 Kindle readers
- The industrial designers defined how the product looked; the product designers determined how the components worked; and the manufacturing designers oversaw the way everything was assembled.Highlighted by 198 Kindle readers
- Disney had structured his company much as Jobs structured Apple. It had been flat, staff members hadn’t had titles, and everyone had been called by their first name. “If you’re important to the company,” Disney said, “you’ll know it.”Highlighted by 152 Kindle readers
Editorial Reviews
Review
“An engrossing narrative that’s impressively reported—a true journalistic achievement in light of Apple’s culture of secrecy—After Steve takes readers deep inside the monolithic company.” — Washington Post
“Mickle builds a dense, granular mosaic of the firm’s trials and triumphs, showing us how Apple, built on Ive’s successes in the 2000s, became Cook’s company in the 2010s. The book is an amazingly detailed portrait of the permanent tension between strategy and luck: Companies make their own history, but they do not make it as they please.” — New York Times
“Mickle’s reporting is tremendous: He documents the life stories of both men and goes super deep on how they carried on at Apple post-Steve.”
— Wired
“A dynamic, eye-opening debut… Tech enthusiasts will find this meticulously researched report great fodder for debate on the future of Apple as a tech leader. A focused, perceptive assessment of the evolution of Apple’s alchemy.” — Kirkus Reviews
"[An]insightful debut, an unsparing take on the company’s post–Steve Jobs era.…There has been plenty written about Jobs and Apple; this sets itself apart with its shrewd look at how and why the company’s culture shifted. Apple devotees and skeptics alike will find much to consider." — Publishers Weekly
“Mickle penetrates the veil of secrecy shrouding one of the great dramas of modern business history: how Apple not only survived but thrived after the death of its brilliant, charismatic founder—and at what personal cost to his successors, Tim Cook and Jony Ive. After Steve is both a feat of reporting on what may be the most secretive company in the world and a gripping narrative that brings readers inside the “Spaceship,” Apple’s futuristic headquarters.” — James B. Stewart, author of New York Times bestsellers Den of Thieves, Blood Sport, and DisneyWar
“Pulls off the rare feat of illuminating Apple's spiritual misdirections through the life and times of Jony Ive before and after Steve Jobs's death. This extraordinary book has a lot of heart, but also lessons on how a visionary company can lose its soul in search of even greater profits." — Bradley Hope, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Billion Dollar Whale
“Mickle pierced Apple's culture of omerta' to deliver an intimate portrait of how Steve Jobs's top disciples -- Tim Cook, the inscrutable operator, and Jony Ive, the passionate artist -- grappled with the loss of their master and their own differences to bring his creation to unprecedented success.” — Sara Gay Forden, author of House of Gucci and editor at Bloomberg News, leading tech policy coverage
“It is just over a decade since Steve Jobs died but it seems like a century for Apple. Mickle's reportorial rigor breathes life into the dramas, personalities and events that shaped the era.”
— Michael Moritz, partner at Sequoia Capital and author of The Little Kingdom
“A fascinating look at Apple in the post-Jobs era. Mickle highlights the link between professional dynamics and personal relationships and how large-cap companies need different skills as they scale. A master class in how creatives and operators work together to build value.”
— Scott Galloway, best-selling author of The Four and Post Corona
“Mickle brings to life how Steve Jobs's successor, Tim Cook, for all his seemingly robotic demeanor, confronts a great many challenges that evaded Apple's founder -- including an increasingly hostile U.S.-China relationship. He examines in unprecedented detail the struggle faced by Cook in meeting competing demands from the two superpowers, and illuminates an issue that will come to define both the business and political world for many years to come.” — Lingling Wei, author of Superpower Showdown
“A thrilling account of the characters, intrigues, and decisions that drove Apple to become the world’s most valuable corporation. After Steve is sure to become the definitive account of the post-Jobs era at Apple.” — Bhu Srinivasan, author of Americana, Named a Best Book of 2017 by The Economist
About the Author
Tripp Mickle is a technology reporter for The New York Times covering Apple. He previously covered the company for the Wall Street Journal, where he also wrote about Google and other Silicon Valley giants. He has appeared on CNBC and NPR, and previously worked as a sportswriter. He lives with his wife and German shorthaired pointer in San Francisco.
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow (May 3, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 512 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0063009811
- ISBN-13 : 978-0063009813
- Item Weight : 1.49 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #133,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #304 in Scientist Biographies
- #491 in Rich & Famous Biographies
- #1,371 in Business Management (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Tripp Mickle is a technology reporter for The New York Times covering Apple. He previously covered the company for the Wall Street Journal, where he also wrote about Google and other Silicon Valley giants. He has appeared on CNBC and NPR, and previously worked as a sportswriter. He lives with his wife and German shorthaired pointer in San Francisco.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
You still trawl your favourite Apple rumour websites, more out of habit than excitement and anticipation. You are still upgrading your iPhone regularly , albeit with longer intervals between phones, but the pleasure you once derived from the new shiny thing is long gone. And yes, you probably know enough about Ives and Cook and can guess the gist of what this book will be about. Yet, you will want to read it like I did.
I read this book because it is the last connecting dot to the old Apple that I love. This is the last connecting shred of history to Steve Jobs. Did I learn anything particularly new? Not really. Was the book entertaining? It sure was. The history and upbringing of the two gentlemen is interesting, providing the context to who they became and why they are what they are. The excesses of a successful Apple post iPhone juxtaposes against my memory of Apple the pauper with cup in hand to Microsoft on Steve Job’s return in 1997.
The predictable end of this chalk and cheese partnership that is Ives and Cook is as delectable as the next iteration of iPhone. Even so, I could not put the book down. Inaccuracies? Maybe, but I felt I was being entertained more than being educated. At the end of this enjoyable read, you are brought back to the sad reality that all true Apple fanboys dread- the protagonist of the “1984” Macintosh commercial has become the antagonist. Cool has given way to cold. We awake from the dream that was Apple and wonder if we might be better off these days buying Apple’s stock instead of its products.
Still, shelling out $15.99 to reminisce is chump change. I doubt we will want to read about the future generation of Apple leaders. This is probably the last book any true Apple fanboy will want to read.
But as this book shows, both Cook and Ives have both individual flaws and blind spots, and that they never effectively team up to truly create a left/right brain directional synergy for Apple - especially as the company gathers global scale and influence. They are great in their own lanes - but somehow can't chart new directions. While the author doesn't really come down hard in judgment of either Cook or Ive's, this is no encomium. I felt he exposed a number of their warts, poorly executed decisions (or non-decisions) and missed opportunities to could lead Apple to even greater things.
And for all their successes and personal efforts, they both become trapped in sphere's of their own creation. Cook's service revenue push never really gets the Silicon Valley street-respect it deserves (given the $$ scale), and Ive's magnum opus, the Apple Watch, nearly stalled at the gate and still seems like a peripheral part of the Apple ecosystem looking for a raison d'être (especially given the recent patent infringement woes). Yet billions were spent on everything from less than productive tech acquisitions to outrageously self indulgent marketing stunts (the $25M tent for a one time event?!?) and sycophantic ego bloated consultants. I wish the book went into even greater depth of Apple's business in China, both in creating manufacturing mega partnerships as well as building an heroic installed base of users - certainly essential drivers to their current success.
This book, clearly using a wide range of both official, published, and anonymous sources, has a lot of detail, with a particular focus on Ive and Cook. While discussed, both the engineering leadership and sales/marketing factions seem more like bit players to the unfolding drama. And the Board of Directors seems so anesthetized on financial success, it's blind to the need for guiding the company to the next level of managerial emotional intelligence. (Admittedly, easy to say in hindsight).
Cook becomes increasingly secure as Apple's financial success grows exponitionally. And Ive seems to loose the plot, becomingly more-and-more precious and distracted, spending vast sums to find "design perfection" totally outside the bounds of any real customer demand or requirement - with the new Apple HQ serving as the pharaonic vanity project of the Age (especially post Covid). And it's increasingly clear that Apple's current iPhone driven financial dependency makes it exceedingly difficult for any new "innovation project" to measure up to either the iPhones' reputation or financial success.
Yet for all the build up in the book, the Gotterdammerung moment between Cook and Ive never really happens. Ultimately, Ive drifts away (with millions in his pockets) - and...the Appleworld doesn't really fall apart. Under Cook, Apple's stock keeps peaking, but its new product horizon seems more incremental improvement focused than ever. Cooks management team is increasingly populated by MiniMe's focused on building efficiency and limiting risk, something that plays well on Wall Street....but ultimately stalls growth potential. Can Apple gain fresh momentum, either as a consumer product category-inventor or stock market dynamo is anyone's guess. (The author is coy, perhaps not wanting to burn future access to the company?)
I found this book interesting and compelling (read over 3 day period), but I wonder who the intended audience really is. The Apple fan(person) or tech head, will find lots of the parenthetic explanations around some certainly fairly public dramas redundant. Yet the general business reader may find the level of detail becomes too inside baseball in tendentious who-did-what-when detail that doesn't really move the thesis forward.
Nor does the book really delivery on its "Apple lost its soul" promise. My main take away was that because the iPhone marketshare and revenue expanded so exponentially, so quickly, it was almost nigh impossible for any new product to live up to the billing of the "next big thing". Apple's story spans from the time when PC's sales were measured in their thousands of units to the current billions of iPhone and App and music downloads of today. Hard not to see this is the story of a company at its apogee, huge, rich, but potentially hugely susceptible to an external disruptor.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in Brazil on December 26, 2023
It is well worth the read. Time well spent.
Die für das Buch gewählte Erzählebene ist magazin-typisch launisch und detailverliebt, mit verschwimmenden Grenzen was der Autor wirklich glaubt und was er mutmaßt, aber durchaus gut recherchiert und mit viel Herzblut präsentiert. Tim Cook und Jony Ive erhalten ein Portrait wie es ausführlicher nicht sein könnte.
Dem reißerischen Titel von Seelenverlust kommt das Buch allerdings nicht nahe. Zu sehr ist man doch beeindruckt, von Steve Jobs Einfluss, von Ive's unglaublicher Detailversessenheit und von Cook. Das Buch versucht immer wieder zu kritisieren, zu reflektieren, aber es ist ein Antäuschen, Kritik als Alibi. Man endet auf Ive in einem nahezu mystischen Raum, gebadet in Licht. Distanz ist dann nicht mehr möglich.
Molte volte capita di leggere tratti dove è presente una singola persona ed essa esegue un gesto o succede una cosa che solo la suddetta persona (che non è presente tra le fonti) potrebbe sapere. Mi sembra di ricordare un Jony Ive in un parco da solo con una scarpa slacciata.
In ogni caso considero il libro come una fonte di fatti attendibile solo se si prende l'idea generale degli eventi che descrive come buona, senza l'animosità costruita attorno dall'autore.
Reviewed in India on April 16, 2023