Steven Levy's new book "The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture and Coolness" is making quite the splash. Forbes takes a look and finds that Levy left practically no stone unturned while digging up and telling the story of the iPod. The review also highlights what I think is the key distinction between the iPod and Zune; Steve Jobs. Jobs is notoriously picky about interfaces and aesthetics, a quirk which often causes Apple engineers to push just that much further. Levy's book details how Jobs involved himself closely with approving or rejecting every prototype, "Engineers were told to finish "builds," in-process prototypes of software and hardware, on Fridays instead of more typical midweek deadlines. "I think ... they were giving the build to Steve, who would take it home for the weekend and play with it," one engineer told Levy. Mondays started with long "to fix" lists."
[via Forbes]
