A podcast about the history of Apple. In each episode, hosts Graham Bower and Charlie Sorrel explore the story behind a different Apple product, and consider what it tells us about the company’s game plan and where it might be heading next.
From WebKit to Swift: Apple’s Complicated Relationship with Open Source
In 2003, Steve Jobs said: “Some people have a problem with open source software. We think it’s great.” It wasn’t just talk. Apple would go on to contribute LLVM and WebKit, two projects that became influential far beyond Apple’s own platforms. WebKit even served as the foundation for Google Chrome. So why doesn’t anyone think of Apple as an open source company? That question turns out to have an intriguing answer. The ideas behind free and open source software emerged from decades of argument...
8 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
Podcasts - How Apple made podcasting happen
Apple Podcasts is one of the world’s most popular podcast players, with almost 25% market share. The app launched in 2012, but Apple’s support for podcasting goes back much further. The term “podcast” was originally coined in 2005 as a concatenation of iPod and broadcast. Initially, Apple wasn’t pleased with this abuse of its trademark, and sent out angry cease and desist letters. But it didn’t take long for Cupertino to come around, embracing the emerging standard by adding support in ...
19 Jun 2025TRANSCRIPT
iOS 7 - the battle for the future of software design
This episode explores Apple's iOS 7 launch in 2013 and the design philosophy shift following a boardroom conflict regarding skeuomorphism, a design motif using real-world visual cues.
5 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT
Sherlock - the mysterious case of how sherlocking became a thing
Sherlock was introduced in 1998, as a tool for finding files on Mac OS 8.5. It used advanced search technology harvested from the carcass of Apple’s failed next generation operation system, Copeland. Sherlock revolutionized search on the Mac, enabling users to search within files for the first time. But its file searching prowess is not the reason Sherlock is remembered today. By competing with a similar third-party app called Watson, Apple was accused of putting an indie developer out of bus...
27 Feb 2025TRANSCRIPT
Apple Park - a boondoggle or the greatest office ever built?
In 2011, Steve Jobs made his final public appearance, presenting his plans for a second Apple campus to Cupertino City Council. He proposed a circular building, one mile in diameter, surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds that concealed a subterranean parking garage. With a whopping $5 billion budget and a prestigious international architect attached to the project, Jobs’ ambition was to build “the best office building in the world.” Drawing on his learnings from Pixar’s headquart...
27 Jan 2025TRANSCRIPT
Leander Kahney - biographer of Tim Cook and Jony Ive
In this special episode we interview Leander Kahney, editor of Cult of Mac, and author of New York Times best-selling biographies of Tim Cook and Jony Ive.During his three-decade career, working first at MacWEEK, then Wired News, and now as the editor of his own tech news website, Cult of Mac, Leander attended all the legendary Steve Jobs keynotes and interviewed some of Apple’s most senior executives. Leander regales us with a wealth of fascinating Apple insights and anecdotes. He also ...
18 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
Apple Maps - the unnecessary apology
Apple Maps creator, Craig Federighi, and industry experts discuss how Apple's rushed attempt to replicate Google Maps led to a disastrous rollout and a costly lesson in the importance of data-driven decision making.
2 Dec 2024TRANSCRIPT
Mac OS X - how Steve Jobs saved Apple’s crown jewel
Steve Jobs and Apple's resurgence from near-obsolescence is told through the pivotal story of Mac OS X, saving the crown jewel from the brink of disaster.
15 Nov 2024TRANSCRIPT
NeXT - the secret to Apple’s salvation and success
The iPhone in your pocket, the Mac on your desk, and even the watch on your wrist are all based on NeXTSTEP, an operating system developed by a long forgotten computer maker called NeXT.Steve Jobs founded NeXT in 1985, just months after his humiliating departure from Apple. Jobs was determined to beat Apple at its own game by proving his new company was the next big thing in computing. But it didn’t work out that way. While NeXT’s iconic cube-shaped workstations gained a loyal following, they...
28 Oct 2024TRANSCRIPT
Apple Watch - what Tim Cook’s first product launch tells us about the future of Vision Pro
These days, Cupertino describes Apple Watch as “the ultimate device for a healthy life.” But it didn’t start out that way. When Tim Cook originally launched the product in 2014, he positioned it as an “intimate way to connect and communicate.”Over its ten year history, Apple Watch has pivoted more radically than any previous Apple product. The user interface has transformed to such an extent that even the Digital Crown and side button no longer perform their original functions.The story of ho...
18 Sept 2024TRANSCRIPT
iPhone 4 - Apple’s most painful product launch
When Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 4 at WWDC 2010, it surprised no one. Tech blog Gizmodo had already spilled the tea two months earlier by publishing photographs of a lost prototype. Jobs was furious, but he found a way to turn the situation to his advantage. The design of the iPhone 4 set the standard for all subsequent models. And with innovative new features like FaceTime and the Retina Display, Jobs described it as the biggest leap forward since the original iPhone. iPhone 4 ...
3 Sept 2024TRANSCRIPT
Safari - how Apple built the engine that powers almost every modern web browser
Safari is one of Apple’s most enduring and popular apps, with versions running on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and even Vision Pro. But it wasn’t always the behemoth we know today.When it launched in 2003, Safari faced fierce competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, a bruiser of a browser with over 95% market share. Safari didn’t seem to stand a chance. And yet, just twelve years later, Microsoft gave up the fight, scrapping Internet Explorer in favor of Edge, a new app based on code borrowed fr...
14 Aug 2024TRANSCRIPT
Newton MessagePad - the little device that left a huge legacy
Apple launched its first handheld computing device way back in 1993. With no internet access, flaky handwriting recognition, and an eye-watering price tag, the Newton MessagePad never stood much chance of success. But the writing was really on the wall with the arrival of the PalmPilot, a cheaper, more compact alternative, with a breakthrough text input system.Inspired by the “Knowledge Navigator” concept video Apple published in 1987, the Newton MessagePad was ahead of its time, featuring bl...
30 Jul 2024TRANSCRIPT
iWork - Steve Jobs’ secret weapon
Steve Jobs was famous for his keynote presentations, which combined showmanship with beautifully designed slides to generate his trademark ‘reality distortion field.’But what few people knew at the time was, he didn’t use a Mac to produce those slides. Not until 2002, at least. Instead he relied on a little-known app called Concurrence on his trusty NeXT computer.Jobs loved this app so much, he hired its creator to work on a top secret project at Apple. The result was Keynote, an app speciall...
14 Jul 2024TRANSCRIPT
Mac OS 8 - A 'better than nothing' update that became a best seller
When Steve Jobs returned to the company he founded in 1997, Apple was in disarray. After two failed attempts at a next-generation operating system, the Mac had been stuck on System 7 for years. The acquisition of Jobs' company, NeXT, offered a solution, with its NeXTSTEP operating system, which would form the basis of Mac OS X. But that was still three years away, and the Mac platform was already on life support. Jobs needed to take action fast. So, he salvaged bits from former fail...
14 Jul 2024TRANSCRIPT
AirPort - How Apple made wireless networking happen
In 1999, Steve Jobs needed one more product launch to complete the four-computer matrix he introduced on his return to the company three years earlier. That product was the iBook—a portable version of the hugely popular iMac G3.iBook had a striking design with eye-popping colors. But what really set it apart was AirPort, Apple’s proprietary version of WiFi, which ushered in the age of wireless computing. AirPort was such a revolutionary concept that Jobs wanted to prove no wires were req...
14 Jul 2024TRANSCRIPT
Nike+iPod Sport Kit - Apple's first foray into fitness
Apple’s interest in fitness products goes way back. In 2006, before Apple Watch was even a twinkle in Tim Cook’s eye, Steve Jobs took the stage with Nike CEO Mark Parker at an ultra-exclusive venue in New York City to announce the Nike+iPod Sport Kit.With a sensor that went into special Nike running shoes, and a receiver that plugged into your iPod, Nike+iPod was a pioneering product that helped define the emerging category of fitness wearables. It set the stage for products that would f...
Inside a recent episode
From WebKit to Swift: Apple’s Complicated Relationship with Open Source
Published 4 Jul 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Linux, it's in everything, right? I mean, does someone just touch on exactly how ubiquitous Linux is today? Well, I mean, it's used absolutely everywhere. So Every hosting center, every service we interact with, everything has Linux in the bottom. You obviously have Windows servers and companies that build on that, but they are in minority to Linux servers, I would say. Also, it's Android phones and any small computing device, like the little computers inside, things like fridges and stuff. Before we move on from free software to open source, there's one other part that we need to unpack, which Martin, you touched on with the GPL license, which is we need to think about copyleft. […]
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