Apple demands halt to publication of tell-all App Store book over confidentiality issues

Apple is taking legal action against former german App Store manager Tom Sadowski and publisher Murmann Verlag to stop circulation of a book about his work, under allegations it reveals confidential "business secrets" that the author wasn't allowed to disclose.

Lawyers working for Apple have ordered Sadowski and his publisher to cease deliveries of book orders, to recall all copies of the book that are already in circulation, and to destroy all manuscripts of the book. Publisher Murmann and the author have so far resisted the demands from the iPhone maker.

Focus reports Apple believes there are confidentiality violations of Sadowski's employment contract with the company due to the book's publication, as it contains "business secrets" that are "of considerable economic value."

Apple insisted to the report it has "long supported a free press and supports authors of all kinds," but in this case Sadowski had "violated his employment relationship." This includes Apple's employment guidelines, which are "applied equally and fairly" to all employees.

Released on Tuesday in Germany, the book "App Store Confidential" by Sadowski is said to be a behind-the-scenes view of how the App Store works from the former manager's viewpoint. The book details Sadowski's journey into Apple, his personal experiences in working inside the App Store, and his meetings with Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Sadowski was an employee with Apple for ten years, working for iTunes marketing for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland before heading up the App Store's efforts in Germany until November 2019. After Apple, Sadowski moved to offering coaching to startups, and provides advice to companies about their apps and monetization strategies.

12 Comments

gatorguy 24627 comments · 13 Years

About 4 years ago

It's already in circulation, and also on Amazon for the Kindle and in paperback. A little late now, and if anything Apple probably just helped sell more than a few copies. No doubt some excerpts will make it into web articles now that the blogosphere has been put on notice. Just be sure you can read German if you buy a copy for yourself.

Beats 3073 comments · 4 Years

Sue the crap out of him.

lkrupp 10521 comments · 19 Years

Apple's action here is waving a red cape in front of an angry bull. They should have just ignored the whole thing and not commented on it. Now that this is out in the open sales of the book will skyrocket, critics and haters will have a field day trying to take the company down, tech blog comment sections will experience a Tsunami of self-righteous indignation. This is Apple, people, and things like this are gobbled up by the tech media and the hater crowd. Hell, I might even try to get a copy for myself just because. If Apple had just ignored this book it would probably have faded into obscurity very quickly.

This thread will explode here I'm sure. It's perfect clickbait.

(u) Crap. I found it on Amazon but it's in German. Never mind.

lkrupp said:

Apple's action here is waving a red cape in front of an angry bull. They should have just ignored the whole thing and not commented on it. Now that this is out in the open sales of the book will skyrocket, critics and haters will have a field day trying to take the company down, tech blog comment sections will experience a Tsunami of self-righteous indignation. This is Apple, people, and things like this are gobbled up by the tech media and the hater crowd. Hell, I might even try to get a copy for myself just because. If Apple had just ignored this book it would probably have faded into obscurity very quickly.

This thread will explode here I'm sure. It's perfect clickbait.

I doubt there's going to be a whole lotta hating going on.

The book has an insider's view of how to game the App Store as I understand it, not a bunch of "oh my gawd, APPLE!" stuff. Don't think there's anything to be indignant about. Instead it's stuff we, or more importantly developers, don't know about how the App Store works from the manager's point of view.