Apple's culture of innovation

The book "Learning about Innovation at Apple" recounts the 15-year journey of software engineer Ken Kocienda, showcasing the distinctive culture of Apple under Steve Jobs.

The book "Learning about Innovation at Apple" is published by The World Publishing House.

Apple is a technology empire, with famous products such as the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac computers. Constant innovation and creativity are among the hallmarks that contribute to Apple's success.

In his book *Learning to Create at Apple* , former software engineer and designer Ken Kocienda describes the culture and product development process at Apple in the 2000s. This was one of the most successful periods in Apple's history, with the introduction of a series of iconic devices that helped lead technology trends.

Steve Jobs' erratic temperament

The book primarily reflects Apple's "creative selection" culture through the projects Kocienda has been involved in, from presentations (demos) to a range of technical issues.

The author also writes about the feeling of working with Steve Jobs, behind-the-scenes stories from product launch events, and the core values ​​of the company. All of these combine to create Apple's distinctive culture.

Former software engineer Ken Kocienda worked at Apple for 15 years. Photo: CUNA News .

At the beginning of the book, Kocienda recounts the keyboard software demos he held in 2009 for the upcoming tablet (officially named iPad). Following the success of the iPhone two years earlier, iOS developers like Kocienda were tasked with creating a successor to that success.

Demos are a crucial stage in the product development process, providing an overview of how new features and devices work, their technical specifications, and benefits.

Through the demos, Kocienda portrayed Steve Jobs' perfectionist mindset and attention to detail. At that time, he was the one who made the final decisions about the interface and how new features worked.

"There were times when he would shrug his shoulders if he wasn't interested in the demo content, whether the presenter was a senior manager he worked with daily or just a programmer he'd never met, like me," the book states.

Kocienda also praised Apple's approach to conducting demo sessions, which are simple yet effective, with small groups and a dedicated decision-maker. These decisions are based on Apple's core values ​​of simplicity and accessibility.

Continuous testing and improvement

Kocienda then used the demo to introduce the main content of the book, recounting the period when Apple was under Steve Jobs' leadership in the 2000s.

Upon joining the company, Kocienda, along with Don Melton, a former employee of the software startup Eazel, was tasked with developing a free browser to compete with Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and others.

Having previously worked at Mozilla, Melton wanted to develop a new browser based on Firefox. However, due to Mozilla's overly complex source code, Melton and Kocienda decided to find a new solution. At that time, Apple had just hired a programmer named Richard Williamson.

Two of the keyboard layouts that Kocienda tested for iOS. Photo: Ken Kocienda .

Williamson quickly created a version of the KHTML codebase, used by the open-source Konqueror browser, but modified to run on Mac OS X. The idea was quickly accepted by Apple, despite their reputation as a closed and secretive company.

The development of Safari faced many obstacles, which Kocienda even compared to Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb in the 19th century.

Throughout the development of the new browser, Kocienda emphasized Jobs's single directive: speed. This is when his ability to inspire, his attention to detail, and his perfectionism were most evident. The late Apple CEO considered many different names before choosing Safari.

“Steve Jobs had a few ideas, but they made me cringe when I first heard them. Initially, Steve liked the name 'Thunder,' but then switched to 'Freedom.' I thought both names were terrible,” the book states. Ultimately, Jobs decided on Safari. The name was suggested by Software Director Scott Forstall.

User-centric approach

In the mid-2000s, BlackBerry's physical keyboard was still the standard in the mobile industry. Therefore, no one was certain that Kocienda's virtual keyboard project would succeed. Similar to Safari, the virtual keyboard project for iOS was an example for Kocienda to clearly demonstrate Apple's culture.

While it may look simple, the virtual keyboard hides many technical issues, including error correction algorithms, character suggestions, and key size and layout.

Kocienda initially created a "water droplet" layout, using touch and swipe gestures for typing, but ultimately returned to the traditional QWERTY layout, refined to suit touch screens.

Overall, much of the development process for the iOS keyboard exemplifies Apple's product culture and workflow, emphasizing perfection, user-centricity, and incorporating feedback from demos for refinement. It's a repetitive cycle.

Steve Jobs at an Apple product launch event. Photo: CNBC .

The final section of the book discusses the integration of technology with "liberal arts," one of Steve Jobs' most prominent philosophies. This is demonstrated through Apple's product launches, press releases, and brand image presented to the public.

All of this is reflected throughout the book, with the author's summary of Apple's "creative choice" culture:

“A small group of passionate, talented, imaginative, and insightful individuals, always eager to explore, built a work culture based on the application of inspiration, collaboration, meticulousness, skill, decisiveness, aesthetics, and empathy, through a long process of many rounds of experimentation and feedback, continuously refining and optimizing reasoning and algorithms, persevering through doubts and failures, selecting the most promising improvements at each step, all for the goal of creating the best possible products,” Kocienda wrote.

Following his success with the iPhone and iPad, Kocienda continued working with Apple until 2017. In the concluding section, the author acknowledges that Apple's culture changed after Steve Jobs' death. Most of the associates mentioned in the book have since left the company.

"Studying Innovation at Apple" is a suitable book for those who want to learn about the culture, personality, and product development process of Apple under Steve Jobs. Jobs' philosophy and Tim Cook's are completely different. However, the legacy of the Apple co-founder will remain unchanged.