Submitted: The Two Sides Team November 16, 2016

Technology giant Apple has just launched its latest product, but it’s not what you might expect. Although the critics may complain about the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack; this new device does come with several innovative features, including infinite battery life and the fact that it is built using a truly sustainable material – paper. 

Cupertino, California – Apple announced the release of a new hardbound book chronicling 20 years of Apple’s design, expressed through 450 photographs of past and current Apple products. “Designed by Apple in California,” which covers products from 1998’s iMac to 2015’s Apple Pencil, also documents the materials and techniques used by Apple’s design team over two decades of innovation.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Steve Jobs.

“The idea of genuinely trying to make something great for humanity was Steve’s motivation from the beginning, and it remains both our ideal and our goal as Apple looks to the future,” said Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer. “This archive is intended to be a gentle gathering of many of the products the team has designed over the years. We hope it brings some understanding to how and why they exist, while serving as a resource for students of all design disciplines.”

The products in this book are the result of a profoundly close collaboration between many different groups. Shot by photographer Andrew Zuckerman in a deliberately spare style, the book’s 450 images illustrate Apple’s design process as well as its finished products.

In the book’s foreword, Ive explains:

While this is a design book, it is not about the design team, the creative process or product development. It is an objective representation of our work that, ironically, describes who we are. It describes how we work, our values, our preoccupations and our goals. We have always hoped to be defined by what we do rather than by what we say.

We strive, with varying degrees of success, to define objects that appear effortless. Objects that appear so simple, coherent and inevitable that there could be no rational alternative.

“Designed by Apple in California” is available in two sizes and printed on specially milled, custom-dyed paper with gilded matte silver edges, using eight colour separations and low-ghost ink. This linen-bound, hardcover volume was developed over an eight-year period. It is published by Apple.

Although this latest product launch might not be Apple's typical state-of-the-art computer, it certainly follows Apple's pricing strategy. The smaller book costs US$199 and the larger size will set you back a cool US$299. 

Even with the high price, this is certainly going to be a popular purchase for any Apple aficionado – and best of all, they won't have to worry about a newer, more powerful version coming out 6 months later. 

As the Financial Times puts it, “After revolutionizing personal computers, phones and watches, Apple has finally turned to humanity’s most durable communications device: the book.”

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