a16z Podcast

a16z Podcast: Inside Apple Software Design

Apr 19, 2019

Ken Kocienda, a veteran Apple software engineer known for his work on Safari and the iPhone's early software, shares fascinating insights from the heart of Apple's design era under Steve Jobs. He discusses the transition from motorcycles to tech wizardry and recalls the tight-knit, secretive culture behind groundbreaking innovations. Hear about the challenges of developing the iPhone, the controversies of not launching copy and paste, and the importance of fusing liberal arts with engineering for meaningful design. Kocienda’s anecdotes reveal the thrill of creativity within a realm notorious for secrecy.

01:36:41

Creator website

Episode guests

Ken Kocienda

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Episode notes

Intro

2min

From Motorcycles to Safari: A Journey in Tech

24min

Inside Apple's Secrecy and Innovation

8min

The Evolution of Software Keyboards

13min

The Unveiling of the iPhone: Secrets and Surprises

2min

Designing iOS: The Copy and Paste Debate

5min

Inside Apple's Demo Room

24min

The Fusion of Liberal Arts and Engineering in Technology Design

3min

The Quest for the Perfect Icon Size: A Playful Experiment

4min

10.

Bridging Tech Skills with Human Insight

12min

Join longtime Apple software engineer Ken Kocienda in conversation with a16z Deal and Research operating partner Frank Chen for an insider’s account of how Apple designed software in the golden age of Steve Jobs, spanning products like the first release of Safari on MacOS to the first few releases of the iPhone and iOS (very first codename: "Purple"). Ken vividly shares about the creative process, how teams were organized, what it was like demo'ing to Steve Jobs, and many other fun stories. This episode originally aired as a YouTube video, and throughout, we repeatedly probe the question: is Apple's obsession with secrecy during the product development process a feature or a bug?

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