'The One Device' Book Covering 'Secret History' of iPhone Available June 20

June 29 will mark ten years since the original iPhone went on sale in the United States. And just days before the anniversary, a new book detailing the smartphone's so-called "secret history" is set to be released.

the one device secret history iphone book
The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, by technology journalist Brian Merchant, reflects on how the iPhone transformed the world and turned Apple into the most valuable company ever.

An excerpt of the book, which is said to contain exclusive interviews with the engineers, inventors, and developers who guided every stage of the iPhone's creation, has been published on The Verge today:

If you worked at Apple in the mid-2000s, you might have noticed a strange phenomenon afoot: people were disappearing.

It happened slowly at first. One day there’d be an empty chair where a star engineer used to sit. A key member of the team, gone. Nobody could tell you exactly where they went.

“I had been hearing rumblings about, well, it was unclear what was being built, but it was clear that a lot of the best engineers from the best teams had been slurped over to this mysterious team,” says Evan Doll, who was then a software engineer at Apple…

The book can be pre-ordered for $18.50 on Amazon in hardcover format ahead of its release on June 20. It's also available to pre-order on the iBooks Store for $14.99 in digital format for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Tag: iBooks

Top Rated Comments

macduke Avatar
85 months ago
Hard to believe it has been 10 years since I stood in line to get my original 8GB iPhone, which I still have in it's box on my desk at home. My entire life has changed since those early days of college, but I still use an iPhone. My MacRumors account will also be 10 years old soon! I remember making an account so I could leak information about how many iPhones the Apple Store on the Plaza in KC was getting for launch. That post ended up going around that Apple store, and my friend who leaked it to me said they were questioning everyone about it. He was scared for his job for a while, and I felt really bad. I was still fairly new to Apple stuff, even though I had used some Macs in college, and didn't fully realize how severe the secrecy was surrounding every aspect of the company. I had lurked here for a couple years, but didn't realize that even retail secrecy was so high.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vvs14 Avatar
85 months ago
Hmm.. there is a misspelling in the title of the book. For Apple it's not THE iPhone it's just iPhone. Pretty poor to miss that when you write this book.
This is the dumbest thing I have read in a long long time...
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BornAgainMac Avatar
85 months ago
Sounds like the iPhone Rapture at Apple campus.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
marvz Avatar
85 months ago
Hmm.. there is a misspelling in the title of the book. For Apple it's not THE iPhone it's just iPhone. Pretty poor to miss that when you write this book.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
85 months ago
Haha yeah isn't it crazy? I sold my original to get the 3G, 3G to get 3GS and so on and so forth.

I still have all of the boxes though and even the original bag it came in.

I still remember the feeling I had when I got the phone on launch day. Gotta thank my mom though for giving 15 year old me her debit card hahah.

I felt so elite and cutting edge!
Yeah I had been following the rumors for a while and was saving up. I never bought an iPod because I kept thinking an iPhone was in the works. In college, $599 was a lot of money. I remember it was an AT&T store not far from the temp job I had that summer in KC. They had an area near the entrance after you came in where you could play with the iPhone while waiting in line. I remember the first time I pinched to zoom in Maps, or scrolled Safari, or called my friend from that device. It felt like such a far future device. It was so smooth. I remember thinking that the slab of glass felt really weird on my face compared to other phones. I remember everywhere I went, when I had that phone out, people would crowd around me and ask to see it or wanted to know what I thought about it. It's the closest I've ever felt to possessing magic. It's difficult to describe to kids nowadays. My kids will never know a world without multitouch and constant connectivity.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
usarioclave Avatar
85 months ago

These three alone were show stoppers for me - my Windows phone could do all the above.
And those things helped WinMo so much that it continued its domination of the mobile phone space.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17

iOS 17.2 Will Add These 12 New Features to Your iPhone

Friday December 1, 2023 12:19 pm PST by
iOS 17.2 has been in beta testing for over a month, and it should be released to all users in a few more weeks. The software update includes many new features and changes for iPhones, including the dozen that we have highlighted below. iOS 17.2 is expected to be released to the public in mid-December. To learn about even more features coming in the update, check out our full list. Journal ...
anker new xmas 1

Anker's Cyber Week Sale Enters Final Days With Up to 60% Off Sitewide

Friday December 1, 2023 12:05 pm PST by
Anker's Black Friday/Cyber Week event is entering its final days this weekend, and it's still offering up to 60 percent off sitewide. There are also a few "mystery boxes" that can include hundreds of dollars in savings, if you're willing to risk not knowing what you're buying ahead of time. All of these sales will end on December 3. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker. When you...
top stories 2dec2023

Top Stories: iOS 17.1.2 Released, NameDrop Misinformation, and More

Saturday December 2, 2023 6:00 am PST by
Apple employees are back to work following a Thanksgiving break, and that means this week saw a number of new operating system updates for both public release and beta testing. This week also saw some misinformation about Apple's new NameDrop feature making the rounds, while Apple and Goldman Sachs appear to be on the verge of a break-up in their Apple Card and savings account partnership,...
General Apps Messages

Green Bubbles on iPhone to Gain These 7 New Features Next Year

Thursday November 30, 2023 9:00 am PST by
Earlier this month, Apple announced that it will finally support RCS in the Messages app on the iPhone starting later next year. This change will result in several improvements to the messaging experience between iPhones and Android devices. RCS will become the new default standard for messaging between iPhones and Android devices, but these conversations will still have green bubbles like...
m2 macbook air green

Get Apple's M2 MacBook Air and M3 MacBook Pro for Record Low Prices

Friday December 1, 2023 6:59 am PST by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models to all-time low prices today. We're tracking these deals below in addition to great discounts on the Apple Pencil 2 and Apple Watch Ultra 1. MacBook Air Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the...
iPhone 16 Mock Header Updated 1

iPhone 16 to Include Action Button Across Entire Lineup

Thursday November 30, 2023 4:08 pm PST by
The release of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max saw the introduction of an entirely new user-configurable button known as the Action button, and now, MacRumors has seen extensive evidence confirming Apple is planning to include the Action button on the entire iPhone 16 range. Designs and plans for the Action button date back to at least 2021, as the button was intended for release alongside hapt...