Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs

by Yukari Iwatani Kane

  93. For a man who craved invisibility: Interviews with Robert Bulfin, Saeed Maghsoodloo, Charles Murphy, Barbara Davis, other Robertsdale High School former staff and students, Debbie Williams and Greg Petsch; Research by Pensacola Historical Society and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association; Lowry, “Thinking Different”; Ray Garner, “Steve Jobs’ World Man,” Business Alabama, November 1999; Tim Cook, interview by Debbie Williams, WKRG, January 16, 2009; Robala (Robertsdale High School Yearbook), 1972–78; Ellen Williams, “Community News: Robertsdale,” and other articles, Independent, January 1977–May 1978; Jeff Amy, “Tim Cook, Steve Jobs’ Successor at Apple, Has Alabama Roots, Auburn Spirit,” Press-Register, August 24, 2011; Paul Carroll, Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM (New York: Crown, 1993), 59; The Auburn Creed; Auburn University, http://www.auburn.edu/main/auburn_creed.html; Miguel Helft, “The Understudy,” New York Times, January 24, 2011; Tim Cook, interview by Duke University, April 2013, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwEToxwSycW1uqGG-iYZOERU0WBTKIAMt.

  97. Decades later: Interviews with Joe O’Sullivan and multiple former Apple executives and employees; Tim Cook, “Auburn University 2010 Commencement Speech,” May 14, 2010, YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAXuHvzjao; Adam Lashinsky, “How Tim Cook Is Changing Apple,” Fortune, May 24, 2012; Lowry, “Thinking Different”; Tim Cook, interview by Duke University, April 2013, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwEToxwSycW1uqGG-iYZOERU0WBTKIAMt; “The Power List 2013,” Out, April 10, 2013. Underwear comment was based on a witness’s firsthand observation.

  104. Jobs’s departure presented a crisis: Interviews with current and former Apple employees and executives; “Apple Media Advisory,” Apple press release, October 5, 2011; Lashinsky, “How Tim Cook is Changing Apple”; Lowry, “Thinking Different.”

  Chapter 7: Joy City

  108. Sun Danyong had been groomed: “Diu Shi iPhone Bei Diao Cha, Fu Shi Kang Yuan Gong Tiao Lou Zi Sha” [iPhone Lost, Foxconn Staff Being Investigated Committed Suicide], trans. by Violet Tian, Southern Metropolis Daily, July 21, 2009; “Sun Danyong Shi Jian Jing Dong Guo Taiming—Ben Bao Du Jia Na Dao Dang Ri Quan Cheng Jian Kong Lu Xiang, She Shi Ke Zhang Tu Lu Xin Sheng” [Terry Gou Disturbed by Sun Danyong’s Suicide—Exclusive Reportage on CCTV Record on the Day of Suicide and Confession of the Involved Head of Department], trans. by Tian, Southern Metropolis Daily, July 22, 2009; Xie Peng and Zhai Qiaohong, “Duo Ming Shou Ji: Fu Shi Kang vs. Da Xue Sheng Sun Danyong Qi Ye Wen Hua vs. Yuan Gong Ren Xing” [A Lethal Phone: Foxconn vs. College Graduate, Sun Danyong and Enterprise Culture vs. Employee’s Humanity], trans. by Violet Tian, Southern Weekend, July 30, 2009; Evan Osnos, “Death at an Apple Manufacturer in China,” New Yorker, July 23, 2009; Evan Osnos, “More on the iPhone Suicide,” New Yorker, July 24, 2009.

  109. It’s unclear where he went: Chat record between Sun and his friends on QQ, trans. by Tian; http://www.fenfenyu.com/Memorial_Static/2901/Article/4.html; “Fu Shi Kang Si Wang Yuan Gong Tong Xue: ‘Tie Zi Bu Shi Wo Fa De’ ” [Classmate of Dead Foxconn Staff: “I Didn’t Post It Online”], trans. by Tian, Guangzhou Daily, July 22, 2009.

  110. The twenty-two-year-old: Many reports said Sun was twenty-five years old, but his friend’s blog claimed his birthday was on September 1, 1986, which made him twenty-two. This is consistent with his 2004 college admission year.

  111. When Sun’s suicide became public: Interviews with Jason Dean, Louis Woo, local reporter, whose name is undisclosed to protect from persecution, and a person with firsthand knowledge of Foxconn’s media handling of the suicide; “The Other Side of Apple,” Friends of Nature, IPE, Green Beagle, January 20, 2011; Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher, “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work,” New York Times, January 21, 2012; Jason Dean, “The Forbidden City of Terry Gou,” Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2007; Gou, Tai-Ming, “Jie Ma Guo Taiming Yu Lu—Chao Yue Zi Wo De Yu Yan” [Deciphering Gou’s Quotations—Prophesies that Overcome Oneself], (Taiwan: TianXiaWenHua, 2008); “Sun Danyong Shi Jian Jing Dong Guo Taiming—Ben Bao Du Jia Na Dao Dang Ri Quan Cheng Jian Kong Lu Xiang, She Shi Ke Zhang Tu Lu Xin Sheng” [Terry Gou Disturbed by Sun Danyong’s Suicide—Exclusive Reportage on CCTV Record on the Day of Suicide and Confession of the Involved Head of Department], Southern Metropolis Daily, Online Issue SA29, July 22, 2009.

  115. For a long time, the world: Interviews with Pennee Saingarm about Shenzhen background as well as former Apple employees and executives with firsthand knowledge of the situation; “The Stark Reality of Chinese Factories,” Daily Mail, August 18, 2006; “Report on iPod Manufacturing,” Apple press release, August 17, 2006; Arnold Kim, “iPhone Factory Worker Photos Found on New iPhone,” MacRumors, August, 20, 2008.

  119. Around the same time: Interview with Ma Jun; “The IT Industry Has a Critical Duty to Prevent Heavy Metal Pollution,” Friends of Nature, Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, Green Beagle, April 24, 2010, http://www.ipe.org.cn/Upload/Report-IT-Phase-One-EN.pdf; “The Other Side of Apple,” Friends of Nature, IPE, Green Beagle, January 20, 2011.

  121. On May 20, 2011: Interviews with Ma Jun, Linda Greer, former Apple employees familiar with the situation; “The Other Side of Apple II: Pollution Spreads Through Apple’s Supply Chain,” YouTube video, posted by “somedayfire,” January 10, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpFz9VAX8zM; James T. Areddy and Yukari Iwatani Kane, “Explosion Kills 3 at Foxconn Plant,” Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2011; “61 Workers Injured in Explosion at Shanghai Apple Supplier,” China Labor Watch press release, December 19, 2011; Clare Jim and Argin Chang, “Apple Supplier Pegatron Hit by China Plant Blast,” Reuters, December 19, 2011.

  124. Finally the Western media: “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,” This American Life, WBEZ, January 6, 2012; Ira Glass, “Retracting Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,” This American Life (blog), WBEZ, March 16, 2012; Charles Duhigg and David Barboza, “In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad,” New York Times, January 25, 2012.

  126. The exposé, a direct hit: Interviews with people who were at the New York Times–Apple editorial meeting as well as current and former Apple executives with firsthand knowledge of other details discussed in this section; the New York Times did not respond to a request for comment on the editorial meeting; Killian Bell, “Tim Cook Visits Beijing to Meet Chinese Officials, Pose With Fans,” Cult of Mac, March 26, 2012, http://www.cultofmac.com/156220/tim-cook-visits-beijing-to-meet-chinese-officials-pose-with-fans/; Li Qiling, “Ku Ke Lai Hua Bei Hou De Xuan Ji” [Decoding Cook’s Trip to China], trans. by Violet Tian, Beijing News, April 11, 2012, http://epaper.bjnews.com.cn/html/2012-04/11/content_330210.htm?div=-1.

  Chapter 8: Into the Fire

  129. On an unseasonably warm day: “Olympic Torch/Knighthood/Royal Academy Party,” YouTube video, posted by “MyDigitalRealm,” May 23, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKMfnu4GFgY; “Apple designer Sir Jonathan Ive Knighted at Palace,” BBC, May 30, 2012. Background on knighthood ceremony from Sir Howard Stringer.

  130. Ive’s knighthood was one: Interviews with former Apple executives familiar with both Jobs and Cook; Tim Cook, “A Celebration of Steve’s Life,” Apple video, October 19, 2011.

  132. To realize the magnitude of Cook’s challenge: Interviews with former Apple executives and employees; Graeme Wearden, “Networking Unnecessary for Rising Star Browett,” Guardian, June 7, 2007; Philip Schiller, Twitter feed, https://twitter.com/pschiller.

  134. Scott Forstall’s nickname: Interviews with former Apple executives and employees, Forstall friends; Lashinsky, Inside Apple, 105–06; Adam Santariano, Peter Burrows, and Brad Stone, “Scott Forstall, the Sorcerer’s Apprentice at Apple,” BloombergBusinessweek, October 12, 2011.

  136. The world disagreed: Interviews with Isaacson; Ive’s former teachers Netta Cartwright and David Whiting; former professors, friends, pre-Apple colleagues including Barrie Weaver, Clive Grinyer, Peter Phillips, Martin Darbyshire; and former Apple colleagues including Robert Brunner; background on Newcastle provided by
John Elliott and Steven Kyffin; Jonathan Ive, foreword to Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible (London: Phaidon, 2011); Paul Kunkel, AppleDesign: The Work of the Apple Industrial Design Group; Rob Waugh, “How Did a British Polytechnic Graduate Become the Design Genius Behind 200 Billion Pound Apple?,” Mail Online, March 19, 2011; Isaacson, Steve Jobs, 342, 350.

  140. Hanging on to this team: Interview with Apple colleague; Jonathan Ive, interview by James Naughtie, Today, BBC, May 24, 2012.

  Chapter 9: Looks Like Rain

  142. When the iPhone 4S went on sale: Interview with John Keitz; “Siri Won’t Call My Dad,” forum discussion by “jkeitz,” “GingerSnapsBack” and others, iMore, July 6, 2012, http://forums.imore.com/iphone-4s/236834-siri-wont-call-my-dad.html.

  143. Expectations for the iPhone 4S: Robert Cyran, “Why Apple Might Just Be the First $1 Trillion Company,” Reuters, August 9, 2011. “iPhone 4S Launch: As It Happened,” Guardian (blog), October 4, 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/oct/04/iphone-5-launch-live-coverage; “Live Blog: Apple Event—iPhone Announcement,” Wall Street Journal (blog), October 4, 2011; “Apple Special Event October 2011,” Apple video, October 4, 2011, http://www.apple.com/apple-events/october-2011/.

  146. At first, Siri was a sensation: Interview with Nicky Kelly, Geoffrey Fowler, Karen Jacobsen, Adam Cheyer, and another person with firsthand knowledge; Bianca Bosker, “Siri Rising: The Inside Story of Siri’s Origins—And Why She Could Overshadow the iPhone,” Huffington Post, January 22, 2013; Matt Warman, “The Voice Behind Siri Breaks His Silence,” Telegraph, November 10, 2011; Jessica Ravitz, “I’m the Original Voice of Siri,” CNN, October 8, 2013.

  148. The British Siri’s voice belonged to Jon Briggs: Briggs did not respond to a request to verify the details of his interaction with Apple

  148. Despite Siri’s futuristic promise: Interview with Frank Meehan, Adam Cheyer, people with firsthand knowledge; Megan O’Neill, “Watch: Siri Doesn’t Understand Foreign Accents,” SocialTimes, October 17, 2011; Leslie Anne Harrison, “I Need a Southern Siri,” GulfCoastNewsToday.com, March 19, 2013; Mark Gongloff, “Apple: Siri Goes AWOL, Stock Dips,” Wall Street Journal (blog), October 17, 2011; Bryan Fitzgerald, “Woz Gallops in to a Horse’s Rescue,” Times Union, June 13, 2012; Bosker, “Siri Rising”; Gene Munster, “Apple’s Siri a Quick Study, But Google at Head of the Class,” Piper Jaffray, June 29, 2012; Erick Schonfeld, “Silicon Valley Buzz: Apple Paid More than $200 Million for Siri to Get into Mobile Search,” TechCrunch, April 28, 2010.

  153. Determined to make the new iPhone a hit: “Martin Scorsese iPhone 4S Siri Commercial HD,” YouTube video, posted by “Mareese Smith,” August 13, 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t8O_92G7OU; “Zooey Deschanel iPhone 4S Siri Commercial,” YouTube video, posted by “smallfries2,” January 3, 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbEjCvdGaZU; “The Phone Store,” Vimeo video, posted by Neal Desai, http://vimeo.com/53747757; Mitch Albom, “A Siri-ous Disconnect,” Reader’s Digest; Fitzgerald, “Woz Gallops in to a Horse’s Rescue.”

  156. At this stage in Apple’s evolution: Interviews with Avie Tevanian, Gene Munster, people with knowledge of the situation including Apple executives; “Apple CEO Tim Cook at Goldman Sachs,” transcript by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune (blog), February 15, 2012; George Colony, “Apple=Sony,” Forrester (blog), April 25, 2012.

  Chapter 10: Thermonuclear

  160. The two industrial superpowers stood: Interview with a former Apple executive with firsthand knowledge; Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics, No. 11-CV-01846, transcript, August 10, 2012; Ina Fried, “Apple Offered to License Its Patents to Samsung for $30 per Smartphone, $40 per Tablet,” All Things Digital, August 10, 2012.

  161. As a newly crowned titan: Interviews with people with firsthand knowledge of the situation, including former Apple executives, Justice Department official, and publishing industry executives; John Markoff, “The Passion of Steve Jobs,” New York Times (blog), January 15, 2008; Isaacson, Steve Jobs, 503–04; United States v. Apple Inc., No. 12-cv-02826, Opinion & Order, July 10, 2013.

  165. As Apple plotted to remake: Interview with Florian Mueller and other patent experts; Ian Edmonson and Yukari Iwatani Kane, “Nokia Accuses Apple of Patent Infringement,” Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2009; size estimate of Nokia’s patent portfolio size provided by Florian Mueller.

  167. The philosophy behind Android: Interview with former Apple executives familiar with the situation; Fred Vogelstein, Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution (New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2013); Jessica E. Vascellaro and Yukari Iwatani Kane, “Apple, Google Rivalry Heats Up,” Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2009; John C. Abell, “Google’s ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Mantra Is ‘Bullshit,’ Adobe Is Lazy: Apple’s Steve Jobs,” Wired (blog), January 30, 2010; “2004 Founders’ IPO Letter,” Google, August 18, 2004, http://investor.google.com/corporate/2004/ipo-founders-letter.html; Arnold Kim, “Steve Jobs at Apple Town Hall Meeting on Google, Adobe, Next iPhone, 2010 Macs and More,” MacRumors, January 30, 2010; Isaacson, Steve Jobs, 512–13.

  169. “They want to kill the iPhone: This quote was also disputed in Daring Fireball, which reported that Jobs actually said, “teams at Google want to kill us.” The author elected to go with the version in Wired because the publication had the fullest account of the entire meeting.

  169. “ ‘Don’t be evil’ is a load of crap ”: Wired originally quoted Jobs as saying, “This don’t be evil mantra: it’s bullshit,” but the publication later posted an update saying that another source corrected the quote. The author used the corrected version, which was also reported by Daring Fireball.

  171. The lawsuit had clearly come: Interview with former Apple executive familiar with the situation.

  172. On the evening after: Interviews with Ben Fullerton, J. P. Stallard, Clive Grinyer, a former Apple executive and a Samsung engineer whose names were withheld upon mutual agreement; Yukari Iwatani Kane and Ian Sherr, “Apple: Samsung Copied Design,” Wall Street Journal, April 19, 2011; Evan Ramstad, “Samsung Sues Apple on Patents,” Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2011; “Android Rises, Symbian 3 and Windows Phone 7 Launch as Smartphone Shipments Increase 87.2% Year Over Year, According to IDC,” IDC press release, February 7, 2011; “Apple Management Discusses Q2 2011 Results,” Transcript, Seeking Alpha, April 20, 211.

  175. Like Apple, Samsung: Reporting by Yoo-Chul Kim; Sea-Jin Chang, Sony vs. Samsung: The Inside Story of the Electronics Giants’ Battle for Global Supremacy (Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia), 2008); Tony Mitchell, Samsung Electronics and the Struggle for Leadership of the Electronics Industry (Singapore: John Wiley & Sons (Asia), 2010); Frank Rose, “Seoul Machine,” Wired, May 13, 2005, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.05/samsung.html?pg=1&topic=samsung&topic_set; Boon-Young Lee and Seung-Joo Lee, “Case Study of Samsung’s Mobile Phone Business,” KDI School of Public Policy and Management, 2004.

  177. Between HTC, Motorola: Interviews with people with firsthand knowledge of the situation; Larry Dignan, “Nokia Likely Netted $600 Million Plus in Apple Settlement,” ZDNet, June 14, 2011; Christopher Lawton and Dominic Chopping, “Nokia, Apple Make Up,” Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2011; Florian Mueller, “Is Apple Winning or Losing the Patent Game?,” Foss Patents (blog), May 19, 2011; estimate of lawsuits between Apple and Samsung by Florian Mueller; “Yeoyoumanman Samsung’Apple gua sosong, sonhaebol geot upda,’ ” [Samsung: “Nothing to Lose from Lawsuit Against Apple”], trans. by MinSun Lee, Hankyoreh, August 31, 2011; Kelly Olsen, “Samsung to Step Up Apple Patent War,” Associated Press, September 23, 2011; “Lee Jae-young, Tim Cook heoidong . . . Samsung, Apple daetahyup?” [Jae Lee and Tim Cook Meet . . . Samsung and Apple’s Great Compromise], trans. by MinSun Lee, Seoul Shinmun, October 17, 2011; Kim Yoo-chul, “It’s All About War, not Battles, Samsung Says,” Korea Times, October 17, 2011; Eric Slivka, “Steve Jobs Exhibit on Display at U.S. Patent Office Museum,” MacRumors, November 23, 2011; Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics, No. 11-CV-018
46, transcript, October 13, 2011; Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics, No. 11-CV-01846, Order Denying Motion for Preliminary Injunction, December 2, 2011. All quotes from this trial and others here and in the rest of the book are based on official transcipts.

  183. Choi Gee-sung: Also known as G.S. Choi or Geesung Choi in English.

  Chapter 11: The Innovator’s Dilemma

  185. Three thousand miles away: Interviews with Clayton Christensen, Gautam Mukunda, Hal Gregersen, and Apple insiders; Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma (New York: Harper Business, 2011); Jena McGregor, “Clayton Christensen’s Innovation Brain,” BusinessWeek, June 15, 2007; Larissa Macfarquhar, “When Giants Fail,” New Yorker, May 14, 2012; Clayton Christensen, interview by Horace Dediu, Asymco, May 2, 2012, http://www.asymco.com/2012/05/02/5by5-the-critical-path-36-an-interview-with-clayton-christensen/; “Android and iOS Surge to New Smartphone OS Record in Second Quarter, According to IDC,” IDC press release, August 8, 2012; Tim Cook, interview by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, D10, All Things Digital, May 29, 2012.

  Chapter 12: Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies

  196. As dusk descended on: Interview with Ai Qi and other factory workers, Beyond, “Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies,” trans. by Huey’s Stuff (blog), November 1, 2011, http://hueyly.com/wordpress/beyond-hoi-foot-tin-hon.

  198. Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour: SACOM is often criticized by corporations for its extreme views. Based on an hour interview with its leader Debby Sze Wan Chan, I determined that their sample pool of interviewees was too small and biased against Foxconn to derive a fair overall picture of the conditions at the factory. SACOM volunteers identify themselves as labor activists, which means most workers avoid them unless they are particularly disgruntled. However, I have found the group’s anecdotes and facts to be consistent with other accounts and believe their accounts to be honest and truthful.