STEVE JOBS & THE WORLD OF MOBILE/APPS: THE INSIDE SCOOP

In this 2-in-1 book, Meyer takes a marketing-focused look at Jobs’ leadership and one of his most popular legacies—the app—to understand the ways in which Jobs applied his vision to make Apple a towering success.

The term “visionary” is often used in describing Steve Jobs, the late CEO of Apple. As a marketing expert and “CEO futurist,” Meyer has had ample opportunity to study Jobs as a corporate leader, and from the positive terms he uses to describe Apple’s approach to business, and Jobs’ in particular, it’s clear he approves. The first of the two books is an examination of how Apple changed the marketplace by introducing apps to iOS devices—the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad lines—and still pushes forward with a combination of agility, design excellence, and meticulous planning and engineering. Combined with this is a book specifically on Jobs as a groundbreaking thought leader, specifically with regard to Apple’s dominance of the smartphone and tablet markets. Both books are written from a marketing expert’s standpoint; in addition to his marketing background, Meyer led a company that developed apps for Apple’s App Store. As a result, the text is written in a colorful, jargon-rich style that moves quickly without delving too deeply into difficult concepts. At times, the focus can become too entrenched in terminology, and the text occasionally skirts close to a parody of PR materials as a result. Yet Meyer’s enthusiasm and willingness to discuss alternative viewpoints keep his prose from tilting over too far. Furthermore, his analysis of market trends and the major players in the smartphone and tablet fields is clear and down to earth, even if it occasionally lapses into trendiness; for example, “OMG” makes more appearances than readers might expect. Despite a reliance on flashy graphics and buzzwords, Meyer creates a savvy, respectful portrait of a company and CEO he clearly admires.

A thoughtful picture of a rapidly changing market landscape and the titan responsible for its arrival.