Apple hit a record-breaking $1 trillion valuation yesterday, on the strength of a single, immensely profitable product—iPhone, obviously.
So it's worth pointing out a few things (& folks) that haven’t been getting much attention amidst the awe:
So it's worth pointing out a few things (& folks) that haven’t been getting much attention amidst the awe:
The trillion dollar device was designed by a team you most likely have still not heard of—Steve Jobs & Tim Cook dominate the PR photos, but either had little to do with its initial invention. Bas Ording, Imran Chaudhri, Wayne Westerman & so many others deserve recognition too
This team—many of whom's members are listed on the 949 patent (& some who are not)—developed what is now pretty inarguably the most influential & profitable product of a generation. These guys built the thing that would lead to that $1 trillion valuation. patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pa…
Apple has kept the iPhone’s origins quite secret inside & outside the company. After my book came out, one of the original iPhone designers told me he received a standing ovation when he came into work at Apple—no one knew he’d been part of that team, or behind the device.
The product behind Apple's $1 trillion valuation is still assembled by hand by thousands of workers in massive factory-cities, in conditions that are psychologically & physically grueling. Suicides still plague Foxconn, & workers accept isolation & overwork as a fact of life.
According to calculations by the metallurgist I consulted, producing a single iPhone requires, roughly, mining 34 kilos of ore, 100 liters of water, & 20.5 grams of cyanide. There are well over a billion iPhones sold behind that $1 trillion valuation.
(More on that here: motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/…)
The iPhone is the culmination of a dream for an audiovisual mobile device that stretches back well over a century—thinkers like Nikola Tesla, Vannevar Bush, (many many more) helped sculpt & predict the smartphone. So did early 1900s satirists. 
Perhaps it can be said that the idea has been accumulating vast potential, value, and demand for many decades, and Apple was fortunate to cash it in.
The first smartphone—complete with a touchscreen, internet access, and apps—was invented by a team led by Frank Canova, Jr., then an engineer for IBM, in the early 90s. Needless to say, he is not a trillionaire, billionaire, or even a millionaire.
Understanding how Apple reached this milestone—and how best to apply ethical standards now that it has become the most valuable & perhaps influential corporation in history—is paramount. All this just barely scratches the surface.
