Sunday, November 05, 2006

Apple's Other Steve Speaks

Review of Steve Wozniak's book in BusinessWeek: 

At its best, iWoz is what its author says he hoped the book would be: an inspiration for nerdy kids who may feel "outside the norm." On the other hand, Apple fans will find slim pickings. Wozniak even downplays the significance of his co-founding the company. Among the sparse insights: the assertion that Mike Scott, the CEO who oversaw the landmark IPO in 1980, deserves more credit. And if there are any bad guys in the book, it's we in the business press. He credits us with compounding Apple's woes in the mid-1990s with our dour headlines and slams us for incorrectly reporting that he left Apple in 1985 in a huff.

There's also a brief review of iWoz and Steven Levy's The Perfect Thing (ode to iPod) in today's Boston Globe.  The closing paragraph:

If Wozniak is guilty of soft-pedaling his technological gifts, Levy is surely guilty of the hard sell: Yes, yes, the iPod is a beguiling little machine. Or is he? While it remains to be seen whether the device outlasts its moment -- and it has had quite a moment -- it does represent a truth about contemporary culture that reaches well beyond technology or the age-old pleasures of music. More than ever before, we're creating our own personal narratives. The marketing geniuses at Apple know precisely how to sell us the means to arrive at them.

I thought both books were worthwhile.

Source: Apple's Other Steve Speaks

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