Editorial Review:
Journalist Owen Linzmayer explores Apple's tumultuous history, from its legendary founding, through a series of disastrous executive decisions, to its recent return to profitability. Backed by exhaustive research, this book debunks many of the myths and half-truths surrounding Apple, the Macintosh, and its creators. Linzmayer looks into secret archives, interviews key players, and tells the real stories behind the hype. You'll read about: the forgotten founder who walked away from hundreds of millions of dollars; the trials and tribulations of creating the original Macintosh, from research project to finished product; Apple's disastrous oversight that allowed Microsoft to dominate the personal computing industry with Windows; a cradle-to-grave expose of the Newton MessagePad; the careers of CEOs John Sculley, Michael Spindler, Gilbert Amelio, and Steve Jobs; complete timelines depicting the development of the Apple II, Apple III, Lisa, Macintosh, Newton, NeXT, and Windows, plus a list of every Macintosh every released; the triumphant return of Steve Jobs to Apple. Included are hundreds of revealing quotes, photos, illustrations, and timelines. This story of the original Silicon Valley start-up turned high-tech leader is not only a must-read for Macintosh enthusiasts and computer industry watchers, but an entrepreneurial adventure anyone will enjoy.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Great History of Apple  2008-06-24
This is a great book that talks about the History of Apple Computer. I couldn't put it down and it was fun walk down memory lane of Apple computers and tech history.
Great reading 2007-12-11
This book contains all the informations a mac lover like me need to know to understand how the Apple has born. This is a very nice reading for me, I've readed it in few days. Very good also the notes at the sides.
A must for all mac fanatics in the world. Thanks Owen. Luca.
Not too bad.  2007-08-23
Don't just buy the book because you love Apple or the review is good. Go to local book store and see the book yourself first before buy one.
Really thorough 2007-03-29
This is the most thorough book on Apple's history that I've ever seen, can't wait for Apple Confidential 3.0
well-written and well-researched  2007-03-26
After reading the insufferable iWoz, I wanted a book about the early days of Apple that didn't suck. A friend gave me Apple Confidential 2.0 for my birthday, and it was just what the doctor ordered. It emphatically didn't suck.
This is a well-written account of Apple, from the early pre-Apple blue box days through the book's 2004 publication. Instead of taking a traditional day-by-day walk through the company's history, Linzmayer arranges his chapters by topic. This makes following the individual threads of Apple much easier. Extra quotes and notes are included in the margins, which add colour and depth to the story. Jef Raskin, who unabashedly called himself the father of the Macintosh, said that this book was the most accurate depiction of how the original Mac was created.
Each chapter mostly stands alone. Since each chapter covers only one topic (say, the development of the Newton), some of the chapters in the tumultuous 90s are a bit hard to follow if you're not already aware of certain pieces of Apple history. Many topics are referenced without a word of explanation, just an occasional pointer to the later chapter. The most glaring examples of this are the references to Be, the Star Trek project, and Copland.
The chapter about the Star Trek project is a great example of another problem of the book. It's too early to talk about more recent developments. Star Trek was the project started in 1992 to bring the Mac OS to Intel. According to this book, the project was shelved in 1993. Typing on a MacTel today, it's obvious that the project was resurrected. I know that I'm not alone in wondering how this actually came about.
Even with those complaints, I recommend the book. The early days of Apple are interesting indeed, and understanding them is critical to understanding Apple today.
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