Always On
How the iPhone Unlocked the Anything-Anytime-Anywhere Future--and Locked Us In
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Even Steve Jobs didn't know what he had on his hands when he announced the original iPhone as a combination of a mere "three revolutionary products"--an iPod, a cell phone, and a keyboard-less handheld computer. Once Apple introduced the App Store and opened it up to outside developers, however, the iPhone became capable of serving a rapidly growing number of functions--now more than 200,000 and counting.
But the iPhone has implications far beyond the phone or gadget market. In fact, it's opening the way to what Brian Chen calls the "always-on" future, where we are all constantly connected to a global Internet via flexible, incredibly capable gadgets that allow us to do anything, anytime, from anywhere. This has far-reaching implications--both positive and negative--throughout all areas of our lives, opening the door for incredible personal and societal advances while potentially sacrificing both privacy and creative freedom in the process.
Always On is the first book to look at the surprising and expansive significance of Apple's incredibly powerful vertical business model, and the future it portends.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tech guru Chen's columns on Apple for Wired.com have gained him a wide readership, primarily for the same qualities he displays here: an in-depth knowledge of the history of Apple and a wide-angle view of the impact that Apple has made across the globe. Chen is especially good at showing how Apple's App Store was the real reason the company initially zoomed past its competitors. Chen lays out how the iPhone's capability to handle a still-growing number of functions has created a world in which people can be in an "anything-anytime-anywhere" reality. More importantly, Chen expertly explains the implications of Apple's focus on vertical integration where the company controls the software and hardware, even if not manufactured by the company itself on current issues related to user privacy, especially in the areas of education and law enforcement.
