Former Wall Street Journal technology reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane delves deep inside Apple in the two years since Steve Jobs's death, revealing the tensions and challenges CEO Tim Cook and his team face as they try to sustain Jobs's vision and keep the company moving forward.
Steve Jobs's death raised one of the most pressing questions in the tech and business worlds: Could Apple stay great without its iconic leader? Many inside the company were eager to prove that Apple could be just as innovative as it had been under Jobs. Others were painfully aware of the immense challenge ahead. As its business has become more complex and global, Apple has come under intense scrutiny, much of it critical. Maintaining market leadership has become crucial as it tries to conquer new frontiers and satisfy the public's insatiable appetite for "insanely great" products.
Based on over two hundred interviews with current and former executives, business partners, Apple watchers and others, Haunted Empire is an illuminating portrait of Apple today that offers clues to its future. With nuanced insights and colorful details that only a seasoned journalist could glean, Kane goes beyond the myths and headlines. She explores Tim Cook's leadership and its impact on Jobs's loyal lieutenants, new product development, and Apple's relationships with Wall Street, the government, tech rivals, suppliers, the media, and consumers.
Hard-hitting yet fair, Haunted Empire reveals the perils and opportunities an iconic company faces when it loses its visionary leader.
This definitive account of Apple’s most vulnerable years reveals:
- Post-Founder Challenges: An inside look at the power dynamics and tensions among Steve Jobs’s loyal lieutenants as they struggled to move forward without him.
- Tim Cook’s Leadership: A nuanced portrait of the man tasked with filling the world’s biggest shoes, based on interviews with those who knew him best.
- The Innovation Dilemma: How Apple’s product development process changed after its visionary’s death, and the immense pressure to create the next "insanely great" product.
- Global Operations Under Fire: A deep dive into Apple’s complex relationships with governments, tech rivals like Samsung, and manufacturing partners like Foxconn.
- An Unfiltered Look: Go beyond the myths and headlines with a narrative built on over two hundred interviews with current and former Apple executives and partners.
"This well-paced, vividly detailed narrative reveals the machine surrounding the Jobsian ghost at Apple and brings the company's high-flying mythology down to earth."
