Last week Apple published a luxury book focused on the last twenty years of the company's product design and whose price aroused some suspicion: 199 euros for the medium size and 299 euros in the case of the larger edition.
The truth is that the book looks fantastic and its design and manufacture, as always, has been taken care of down to the smallest detail but, let's be frank, to say that the price is abusive is an understatement. Not everything goes, Apple. If you are one of those who think like me but at the same time you like the idea embodied by Apple, there is another much more affordable title that you are probably going to love: Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.
Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation, in Spanish, "Iconic: A photographic tribute to Apple innovation", does not reach the Apple Pencil launched by the company in 2015 since the first edition was published in 2013 but its price is a more than interesting alternative: $59.
"Iconic" is a work by Jonathan Zufi, an Apple fan, and tells the story of the company's products through photographs booting into the 1976 Apple I computer and working its way up to the iPad mini in 2012.
Although not official, the book has a rousing foreword supposedly by Steve Wozniak:
The beauty of design that Apple is known for deserves beautiful photography, and that's what Jonathan has given us. Within these pages, Jonathan has given us a thoughtful and artistic gift for Apple fans and employees: photographs of Apple products - from hardware to packaging - something he has never seen before. Jonathan's passion for this product is reflected on every page, and each one honors the hard work of every employee and contributor who has walked through Apple's doors.
The book Iconic: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation, is presented in a hardcover format with a total of 340 pages and dimensions similar to the medium-size edition of "Designed by Apple in California", which is priced at 199 euros.
There are two editions, as you can see in the header image. The Classic edition, which includes the book only, and the Classic Plus edition, which includes a black dust jacket or sleeve. The Classic edition is the one that costs only 59 euros being, at least for the moment, the only for sale on Amazon.
As Ben Lovejoy points out in 9to5Mac, the approach presented by this work is very similar to the recently released book by Apple, that is, full-page photos, some of them double-page, that try to show and emphasize the beauty of Apple product designs. But there are also differences. One of the most notable is that, while Apple's book offers almost no text, Iconic: A photographic tribute to Apple innovation, cuanta with a lot of quotes from Steve Jobs, Jony Ive and others who have been part of the history of the company and that help to better understand the message that you want to convey with the images.
Another difference is that Iconic It starts at the beginning of Apple's History, in contrast to the official book that begins with the arrival of Jony Ive and the first-generation iMac, so perhaps this work can provide a more complete view of the history of Apple's design evolution.
Lovejoy further notes that "the quality of the photography is first class, and on par with the Apple book", although the quality of the finish is not as impressive as in the case of the official book.
I don't know about you but, unlike Apple's official work, this one has piqued my interest. At the moment it is in presale but you can buy it now on Amazon.
I bought the one that Apple sells and it is worth every euro!