
“Designed by Apple in California” chronicles 20 years of Apple design - IBM
http://www.apple.com/newsroom/2016/11/designed-by-apple-in-california-chronicles-20-years-of-apple-design.html
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guptaneil
I love Apple, but they seem really focused lately on how good they _used_ to
be. It's a troubling cultural trend.

~~~
IBM
This sentiment, posted every time Apple does something post-Steve Jobs, is
essentially American declinism [1] but for Apple. Substitute Apple for America
in this Robert Kagan article [2].

>But how real is it? Much of the commentary on American decline these days
rests on rather loose analysis, on impressions that the United States has lost
its way, that it has abandoned the virtues that made it successful in the
past, that it lacks the will to address the problems it faces. Americans look
at other nations whose economies are now in better shape than their own, and
seem to have the dynamism that America once had, and they lament, as in the
title of Thomas Friedman’s latest book, that “that used to be us.”

[1] [http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/10/08/declinism-is-america-
and...](http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/10/08/declinism-is-america-and-mitt-can-
too/)

[2] [https://newrepublic.com/article/99521/america-world-power-
de...](https://newrepublic.com/article/99521/america-world-power-declinism)

~~~
addicted
I don't think it's a good idea to compare a country made of 300+million people
and many more millions of entities, with a single entity driven by the
decisions of 1 person.

While you may be right that people are reacting incorrectly, it's
significantly easier for a single corporation headed by 1 person to actually
decline than it would be for an entire democratic nation.

~~~
IBM
As the first article noted American declinism has been a popular genre since
the 1950s. It comes with the territory with being on top for so long.

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grenoire
The price tag feels rather exorbitant.

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nothis
Those books can be expensive but $299? It seems like they're celebrating Apple
pricing philosophy on top of their design.

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Isamu
Strikes me as the sort of thing that Steve Jobs would have said "no" to.

(He famously avoided doing much backward looking. "It distracts from the NOW,"
as Edna Mode would say.)

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thowar2
Yo dawg, we heard you don't like the new MacBook Pro, so we put pictures of
old Macs in a book so you can buy a new book of Macs for pros.

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ironchief
The time period covered by the book (1998-2015) is significant. This is Ive
telegraphing the end of the Jobs roadmap. "from 1998’s iMac to 2015’s Apple
Pencil" which is very much in line with the following Jobs quote of pre-iPhone
prototypes. "I had an idea of a multitouch display that you could type on.
About six months later they called me in and showed me this prototype display.
This was in the early 2000s"

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kristofferR
Why buy a $300 book full images of products when IKEA gives you a book like
that for free?

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1propionyl
Random aside: the IKEA mail catalogs are actually very well designed and
nicely printed. They're one of the few catalogs I actually keep. They don't
feel consumeristic and actually have a lot of neat furnishing ideas, even if
you don't want to buy anything from them.

I am pleasantly surprised by their non-consumeristic advertising. It's sexy
functionalism.

~~~
pasta
Aside trivia: Did you know most of those Ikea pictures are 3D renders?

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dzhiurgis
This. I would love someone to do a realistic IKEA furnishing just to see how
impossible and unpractical it would be.

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bitmapbrother
Anyone care to guess the margins on the $199 and $299 books?

~~~
NEDM64
Yes, Apple is getting rich selling books.

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sgtnasty
I would really like a book on NeXT design, UI and hardware.

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LaSombra
Made in China?

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joao
A video trailer for the book:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkskY9bL9Bk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkskY9bL9Bk)

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jheriko
lol. explifying the apple design itself - a beautiful, but less practical
embossed white cover.

~~~
doodpants
Well, Steve Jobs was a fan of the Beatles...

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dfar1
Please tell me there's a jony ive video about it!

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cjmcqueen
Aren't you suppose to publish a book before you step down from a role? Seems
to be the Silicon Valley trend...

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rbanffy
I don't think the last 20 years were that much interesting. The 15 years
before that? Certainly.

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chrisseaton
Why go out of your way to comment to say that you aren't interested in a
particular book? If this book doesn't interest you why did you click the link?
Such negativity and casual dismissal of things other people may be interested
in.

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charlesism
I find it interesting to read everyone's reactions here, both positive and
negative. As long as it's not trolling, or being rude to others, why shouldn't
one feel free to leave their thoughts?

In fact I checked out the comments for this article specifically because the
book doesn't appeal to me either, and I was curious if I was the only one who
felt that way.

