David Pogue on How Apple Turned Failure into Breakthrough Innovation

David Pogue on How Apple Turned Failure into Breakthrough Innovation

From Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews) by Metis Strategy

April 6, 2026 · 57 min

About this episode

David Pogue discusses how Apple turned its failures into groundbreaking innovations.

Apple’s greatest successes were built on failure. In this episode of Technovation , Peter High speaks with David Pogue , an Emmy-winning journalist, former New York Times technology columnist, CBS News correspondent and author of Apple: The First 50 Years, about how Apple transformed early product missteps into category-defining innovation. Drawing on 150 interviews and decades of coverage, Pogue unpacks the hidden lessons behind Apple’s most famous failures—and how they shaped the company’s future. Key insights include: Why the Apple III and Lisa failed—and what they enabled How constraints in the early Mac informed later breakthroughs The role of leadership in reframing failure as progress Apple’s near-collapse and improbable turnaround What today’s executives can learn from Apple’s innovation model

People in this episode

Host: Peter High

Guest: David Pogue

Topics covered

  • innovation
  • failure
  • leadership
  • technology
  • business strategy

Keywords

  • Apple
  • innovation
  • failure
  • David Pogue
  • technology
  • leadership
  • business

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Apple, New York Times, CBS News

Books & works: Apple: The First 50 Years

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