The Smartphone - by Elizabeth Woyke (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A technology reporter's behind-the-scenes history of the device that has taken over our lives.

How have smartphones shaped the way we socialize and interact? Who tracks our actions, our preferences, our movements as recorded by our smartphones? These are just some of the questions that Elizabeth Woyke, a journalist who has covered the industry for Bloomberg Businessweek, Forbes, and MIT Technology Review, addresses in this book.

Including photos and an in-depth look at the early decades of mobile communication, The Smartphone offers not only a step-by-step account of how smartphones are designed and manufactured but also a bold exploration of the darker side of this massive industry, including the exploitation of labor, the disposal of electronic waste, and the underground networks that hack and smuggle smartphones.

Featuring interviews with key figures in the development of the smartphone and expert assessments of the industry's main players--Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung--The Smartphone is the perfect introduction to this most personal of gadgets. Your smartphone will never look the same again.

"The author does a good job explaining the relationships among the makers, carriers and developers, and she delivers an engrossing chapter on design trends." --Kirkus Reviews

Review Quotes

"Readers who fully absorb the more disturbing details of Woyke's report will never be able to download a new app or listen to a podcast without a twinge or two of consumer guilt."
--Booklist

"A smartphone full monty that will appeal mostly to the device's users--all 1.75 billion of them."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A well-reported comprehensive overview of the smartphone's innovators and the challenges surrounding the industry. A deeply worthwhile read for anyone interested in the socioeconomic impact of a device that has become so prevalent in our lives."
--Yukari Iwatani Kane, author of Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs

"I learned more from Elizabeth Woyke's The Smartphone than I have from any two or three other books on digital communication I have read in the past few years. A superior reporter, Woyke brilliantly presents a clear-eyed view of this new communication device that has conquered everything in sight. This book is an eye-opener."
--Robert W. McChesney, author of Digital Disconnect

About the Author

Elizabeth Woyke has covered the telecom and mobile industry since 2007. A former Businessweek and Forbes staff writer, she has also written for Money and Time Asia. In 2011, she was voted a top twenty "Smart Mobile Pundit" by readers. She has appeared on the BBC and other news broadcasts to comment on technology. Woyke lives in New York.