Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

- Which of Apple, Google and Microsoft had an office with a "drawer of broken dreams" - and what (real) objects lay inside it?- When did Microsoft have the chance to catch Google in making money from search - and who vetoed it?- Why did Google test 40 shades of blue on its users?- How long did outside developers wait before asking to write apps for Apple's iPhone after Steve Jobs announced it?- Who said that Microsoft should have its own music player - and why did it fail?The answers, and much more, can be found in this new book by Charles Arthur, technology editor of The Guardian newspaper of London.Digital Wars starts in 1998, when the internet and computing business was about to be upended - by an antitrust case, a tiny start-up and a former giant rebuilding itself. It looks at what are now the three best-known tech companies, and through the voices of former and current staff examines their different strategies to try to win the battle to control the exploding network connecting the world. Microsoft was a giant - soon to become the highest-valued company in the world, while Apple was a minnow and Google just a startup. By February 10 2012, Apple was worth more ($462bn) than both Microsoft ($258bn) and Google ($198bn) combined. The chance had come from tumultuous battles between the three...To win their battles...Apple used design, the vertical model of controlling the hardware and software, and a relentless focus on the customer to the exclusion of others;Microsoft depended on the high quality of its employees' programming skills and its monopolies in software to try to move into new markets - such as search and music;Google focused on being quick, efficient, and using the power of data analysis - not human "taste" - to make decisions and get ahead of would-be rivals.With exclusive information from interviews with people such as Don Norman, former VP of Apple Computer and Pieter Knook, former SVP of the Mobile Communications Business at Microsoft, and many more current and former staff of the three companies - including one person who has worked for all three - Arthur also addresses:- what the inventors of the hard drive used in the iPod thought it would really be used for- how Apple transformed the smartphone market- which of Android or Apple that forced Microsoft to abandon Windows Mobile- what happened to Microsoft's tablet plans- and much more.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. 1)
• 01 1998 (p. 3)
• Bill Gates and Microsoft (p. 3)
• Steve Jobs and Apple (p. 4)
• Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (p. 9)
• Larry Page and Sergey Brin (p. 11)
• Internet search (p. 12)
• Capital thinking (p. 14)
• 02 Microsoft antitrust (p. 16)
• Steve Ballmer (p. 16)
• The antitrust trial (p. 17)
• The outcome of the trial (p. 20)
• 03 Search: Google versus Microsoft (p. 23)
• The beginnings of search (p. 23)
• Google (p. 26)
• Search and Microsoft (p. 30)
• Bust (p. 31)
• Link to money (p. 37)
• Boom (p. 39)
• Random access (p. 45)
• Google and the public consciousness (p. 47)
• Project Underdog (p. 49)
• Preparing for battle (p. 53)
• Do it yourself (p. 54)
• Going public (p. 59)
• Competition (p. 61)
• Cultural differences (p. 61)
• Microsoft's relaunched search engine (p. 62)
• Friends (p. 67)
• Microsoft's bid for Yahoo (p. 69)
• Google's identity (p. 69)
• The shadow of antitrust (p. 72)
• Still underdog (p. 74)
• 04 Digital music: Apple versus Microsoft (p. 79)
• The beginning of iTunes (p. 80)
• Gizmo, Tokyo (p. 82)
• iPod design (p. 84)
• Marketing the new product (p. 86)
• Meanwhile, in Redmond: Microsoft (p. 90)
• iPods and Windows (p. 92)
• Music, stored (p. 95)
• Celebrity marketing (p. 99)
• iTunes on Windows (p. 103)
• iPod mini (p. 107)
• The growth of iTunes Music Store (p. 109)
• Apple and the mobile phone (p. 111)
• Stolen! (p. 112)
• Two-faced (p. 117)
• iPod in the ascendant (p. 127)
• Ecosystem: hardware and apps (p. 127)
• Scratched! (p. 130)
• Silence from Apple (p. 133)
• Apple's best results (p. 136)
• Zune (p. 136)
• Tying the Zune to the Xbox (p. 138)
• White Christmas (p. 141)
• Twilight (p. 143 Rout or)
• 05 Smartphones (p. 147)
• Mobiles and Microsoft (p. 147)
• Android (p. 150)
• ROKR and a hard place (p. 151)
• iPhone, that's what (p. 154)
• Just walk in (p. 156)
• Disrupted (p. 166)
• Free as in data (p. 169)
• The drawer of broken dreams (p. 172)
• Developers and the iPhone (p. 175)
• Free as in lunch (p. 178)
• Apps for all (p. 184)
• Money in apps (p. 186)
• Flash? Ah (p. 187)
• Envy (p. 193)
• The losers (p. 194)
• Android rising (p. 195)
• Patently (p. 205)
• App patents (p. 210)
• Tipping (p. 211)
• The revolution will be handheld (p. 213)
• 06 Tablets (p. 222)
• 'Within five years' (p. 222)
• Third category (p. 226)
• Apple dominant (p. 230)
• Always on (p. 232)
• Post-PC (p. 235)
• Grand unified theory (p. 236)
• 07 2011 (p. 239)
• Notes (p. 244)
• References and further reading (p. 253)
• Acknowledgements (p. 254)
• Trademarks (p. 255)
• Index (p. 256)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Arthur, a longtime tech editor (currently for the Guardian), relates an in-depth history of the worlds of Apple, Microsoft, and relative newcomer Google (founded in 1998-over 20 years after its titular forebears). The author focuses primarily on the personalities of the two big players-Bill Gates and the late Steve Jobs-and positions Google inventors Larry Page and Sergey Brin as being at the helm of a different generation of digital entrepreneurs who "had come of age in a world where the Internet was already a background hum" and Tim Berners-Lee (the inventor of the World Wide Web) was a familiar name to folks in the know. Arthur traces the ups-and-downs of the companies over time and the cutthroat competition that persists today to create the next state of the art server, music device, smartphone, tablet, or something entirely new. He also maps the changing landscape of Internet companies and relates plenty of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, some of which do little to contradict the popular image of Steve Jobs as genius/tyrant. Lively and informative, even non-geeks will find this story riveting. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

Science and technology journalist Arthur (Guardian, UK) provides a summary of the big three Internet-era companies, focusing on search platforms, digital music, smartphones, and tablets. Arthur compares and contrasts the corporate approach of Microsoft, Google, and Apple, respectively. He notes that Microsoft's division-based and hierarchical approach, which was very successful in the PC age, eventually led to self-defeating strategies, e.g., divisional territories and isolation, in the mobile age. He also discusses the company's practice of striving for product perfection after product release as seen in the Zune music player, Tablet PC, etc. Conversely, Apple was not afraid to kill dying products such as the Cube or iPod mini, and shunned refurbishment of current products; instead Apple designed them to last until the arrival of new must-buy products. Google winds up somewhere in between, but has largely outperformed Microsoft in searching and advertising ventures. Where many similar works such as John Battelle's The Search (CH, Mar'06, 43-4123) and Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs (CH, Apr'12, 49-4500) focus primarily on personalities and management approaches, this work focuses more on various aspects of market economics and strategies, as well as competitive patent practices. Valuable for all readers, and a suitable addition for history of technology and business collections. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. K. D. Winward Central College

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Charles Arthur is technology editor at the Guardian. An experienced journalist, he has also worked at the Independent and New Scientist - all adding up to over 25 years in technology and science journalism. He has met all the senior figures in the technology industry and has extensive experience of reporting on the activities of Apple, Google and Microsoft. He has interviewed Bill Gates and Steve Jobs on numerous occasions. Charles has a large following and regularly speaks, writes and blogs on all topics relating to technology.