Fifty Years of Apple with David Pogue

March 8, 2026·1 hr 26 min·5 clips

Apple tested Face ID at Harley Davidson rallies, twins conventions, and by mailing decapitated latex heads to their own mailroom.

David Sparks opens with two Davids. Stephen Robles says he is excited to have two Davids on this week's episode, and the conversation quickly finds a comfortable interview groove. Pogue comes in as a longtime Sparks favorite, so the Apple stories feel less like a press stop and more like something pulled from a well-used scrapbook. Sparks brings up Pogue's iPhone song parody, and Pogue remembers writing the lyrics on a train into New York before filming with people in line at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. That sets the tone: Apple history told through odd, specific, very human little stories. The Apple car discussion is the sharpest stretch. Pogue says a source agreed to spill the beans, then describes an early plan for a gorgeous, silent 1.0 car that could get better year after year. Very Apple, in other words. Start with the version that can ship, then keep pushing. But the roadmap turns into something stranger: a symmetrical lounge with reclining chairs, no front, no back, no steering wheel, and no pedals right out of the gate. That is where the dream runs into physics and liability. Pogue treats the shutdown as Apple reaching for a version of self-driving that nobody had made flawlessly safe. What surprises him most, though, is the intensity inside Apple. Face ID is his quick example. He traces it to contour-sensing camera technology from an Israeli company, with the same basic idea tied to the Xbox Kinect. Nerdy, chatty, and pretty easy to follow. By the end, Apple the First 50 Years sounds less like a sales pitch than a book a friend is pressing into your hands.

As heard by us

David Pogue turns Apple's 50-year story into a smart, conversational tour of ambition, engineering, and the car Apple could not ship.

Mac Power Users uses David Pogue's new Apple book as a springboard for a relaxed, detail-rich conversation about the company's first 50 years.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

The Apple Car had no steering wheel, no pedals, and a source who agreed to spill the beans.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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