Until recently, we did not know that we would write about Apple. Even though, as young engineers, a formative Apple has tickled our brains and resonated in our hearts since the late 1970s, and even though we have become acute observers of its developments since then.

Yet, no business book could be written without being influenced by special people. We had the opportunity to meet a few individuals having held notable responsibilities within Apple, all of whom were impressive.

One of them was Jean-Marie Hullot, whom we have occasionally hired for training managers in computing projects in the 1980s. Thanks, Jean-Marie, for your very insightful thinking.

Thanks also go to Jean-Louis Gassée who pointed out that Apple, in its darker days, retained a 5% market share, which was not that catastrophic, as it was also the case for BMW!

We personally witnessed the earliest days of both Apple and Microsoft, from Silicon Valley and Europe, and were often tempted to compare their founders’ trajectories. Professional circumstances made us switch back and forth in using either IBM PCs or Macintosh architectures and models, sometimes with regrets or awe in front of captivating machines, over 35 years. We joyfully tossed around crazy ideas on the future of the two companies. One day, we even designed a formal-free thinking foresight exercise for graduating students where the trick was to scenarize a number of ventures and business models for an ever expanding Apple until 2030. Coincidence or not, several have come true since. This puzzled us, less so the students probably.

But, for such an improbable book, we had to unknowingly wait until the advent of specific methods to dare crack an Apple conundrum which had puzzled us for so many years. One was C-K theory, another was trialectics, and yet, a first understanding of what makes the distinction between the still predominant linear thinking and what can be dubbed systemic approaches.

Hence, the decoding and interpreting of Apple’s DNA components would not have been possible without the power of a special design-thinking method, long since invented and perfected at Mines ParisTech. Our gratitude goes to its Professors Armand Hatchuel, Benoît Weil and Pascal Le Masson and their highly competent team within the Center de Gestion Scientifique (Scientific Management Center) for their unfaltering and patient teaching and their sharpest listening through the years. The foundations in designing innovation capacity that they have built are backed by strong theoretical formulations and can now encompass all human activities.

Entering into the arcane of competition and innovation was happily backed by the deep and systematic thinking offered by trialectics. To its founder, Gérard Gigand, our thankful consideration for having generously and diligently instructed the sometimes arcane nuances of his organized mental procedures.

Our gratitude goes to our publisher, and especially Raphaël Ménascé in London, who sensed the feasibility of a genes-based approach.

And finally, a big thank you to our other halves, Annie and Béatrice, who had to wait patiently for the seemingly never-ending final writing touch. You deserve more than a vacation, you deserve the dedication of our silent typing embodied by this book.