''Designed by Apple in California'' is a

photo-book A photo book or photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content. A photo book is related to and also often used as a coffee table book. Early Early photo books are characterized by their use of ...

written by

Jonathan Ive Sir Jonathan Paul Ive (born 27 February 1967) is a British industrial and product designer, as well as businessman. Ive was the chief design officer (CDO) of Apple Inc. from 1997 until 2019 (known as senior vice principal of industrial design ...

with photos taken by

Andrew Zuckerman Andrew Zuckerman (born 1977) is an American filmmaker and photographer. He is best known for creating hyper-real images set against stark white backgrounds. His subjects have included birds, endangered species of animals, politicians, humanitarian ...

, and published by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

in 2016. The book is intended to showcase the company's history, containing 450 pictures of Apple products released from 1998 to 2015. ''Designed by Apple in California'' received praise for its showcase of late Apple co-founder

Steve Jobs Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...

' work and the book's physical design, while it took criticism for being considered a "vanity project" and that many of its pictures were already publicized.

Synopsis

The book contains 450 photographs of new and old Apple products taken by Andrew Zuckerman, showcased on stark white backgrounds. They cover 20 years of the company's product design, from the

iMac G3 The iMac G3, originally released as the iMac, is a series of Macintosh personal computers sold by Apple Computer from 1998 to 2003. The iMac was the first major new product release for Apple under Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO and cofound ...

released in 1998 to the

Apple Pencil Apple Pencil is a line of wireless stylus pen accessories designed and developed by Apple Inc. for use with supported iPad tablets. The first-generation Apple Pencil was announced alongside the first iPad Pro on September 9, 2015. It communic ...

released in 2015, although not all products during that timeframe are included. In addition to its photographs, the book also discusses the materials used in Apple products and techniques used by the company's design team. The book was dedicated to Apple co-founder

and contains an introduction written by then Apple

chief design officer Chief Design Officer (CDO), or design executive officer (DEO), is a corporate title sometimes given to an executive in charge of an organization's design initiatives. The CDO is typically responsible for overseeing all design and innovation aspects ...

Jonathan Ive. Ive described the book as an "archive". Apple stated that the book is printed on "specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matte silver edges, using eight color separations and low-ghost ink", and that it was linen-bound, hardcover, and developed "over an eight-year period".

Release

The book was announced by

on November 15, 2016. It was published in two sizes, a "small" version measuring 10.2 inches by 12.75 inches (260x324mm) for $199 (£169), and a "large" version measuring 13 inches by 16.25 inches (330x413mm) for $299 (£249), sold by Apple

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

and in some of its retail

Apple Store The Apple Store is a chain of Retail, retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell various Apple products, including Macintosh, Mac personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet computers, Apple Watch smartwatches, Apple ...

locations. The book was discontinued by Apple in August 2019, selling out worldwide by September of the same year.

Reception

Rene Ritchie of

iMore The Apple community is a group of people interested in Apple Inc. and its products, who report information in various media. Generally this has evolved into a proliferation of websites, but latterly has also expanded into podcasts (both audio and ...

gave a positive review, noting that the book "collects and catalogs the products willed into the world by Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, and the team they assembled in Cupertino" and that it "is one of the most finely crafted books

e has E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plura ...

ever owned". Brian Fagioli of BetaNews commented that the book's high price "sets the value and desirability at a high level" and that it is "intended to be a collectible piece of art". Kif Leswing of ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' gave a negative review, describing the book as "Ive's vanity project" and stating that many of its photos have been released by Apple before. Leswing felt the book itself was large in size and "not that special" for its price, compared to art books, and that he could spend the book's price "on way more fun things — like Snapchat's Spectacles, or a discounted Apple Watch". James Vincent of ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

'' said that the book's release "show a certain amount of self-interest, navel-gazing, and even arrogance from Apple" and that he would "be interested to see if the company can justify releasing another such book 20 years from now".

References

{{Steve Jobs Apple Inc. industrial design Books about Steve Jobs Books about Apple Inc. Books of photographs