Starting to read Apple in China

I’ve started a new book that I’ll probably finish.

Recently I’ve been listening to the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, hosted by Eric Seufert. I subscribed after Ben Thompson invited him on Stratechery a few times.

The podcast is great.

Eric invites guests on to talk about advertising across tech. This topic would have bored me to death years ago. But as I’ve shifted my thinking in product design, I’ve realized the money side of things matters. How businesses generate revenue impacts every area of design that I touch.

A lot of the episodes have been outside my area of expertise, talking about ad tech. But I’ve enjoyed listening and learning about this whole other side of business I’d mostly ignored.

It’s worth subscribing.

On a recent episode he invited Patrick McGee to talk about his newest book, Apple in China. I’ve heard this book mentioned a few times, but hadn’t made a point to pick it up.

Patrick’s pitch pulled me in, and I’ve started listening. The idea that China and Apple helped build each other up is nothing new if you’ve listened to Stratechery. But Patrick has sources I’ve never heard of before. His book gets into how Apple cracked this market, and why they’re completely dependent on Beijing at this point.

I’m just starting, but it reads like a novel and has pulled me in.

Whenever I listen to books like this I can’t help but feel that I’m missing some greater piece in my work—something more that I really want to do but can’t quite see. This desire, this need, is part of what keeps me pushing and growing as a designer. And this is part of why I don’t think I could ever get bored in my work.