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‘Inside Apple’ offers a glimpse into Apple’s secret unboxing room

Apple pays utmost attention to the unforgettable experiences customers get from interacting with their thoughtfully designed product packaging, as evident in countless unboxing videos on the web. It is little surprise, then, that the company goes to great lengths to create lasting unboxing experiences.

With that said, of course the company has a dedicated “secret” room to test various packaging designs. It is somewhat akin to Jony Ive’s design bunker in that it is a place where many prototypes are being iterated exhaustively, per Apple’s famous penchant for perfection. Apple even has a number of patents, such as this filing outlining an active packaging for products that will allow Apple to change what is inside on the fly.

According to an excerpt from Adam Lashinsky’s upcoming book titled “Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired – and Secretive – Company Really Works,” Apple agonizes over how its products are packaged as much as the hardware inside:

To fully grasp how seriously Apple executives sweat the small stuff, consider this: For months, a packaging designer was holed up in this room performing the most mundane of tasks – opening boxes.

According to the author, Apple once stuffed the room with hundreds of iPod box prototypes, testing each one of them until the company settled with the final design:

In one example illustrating Apple’s exhaustive attention to detail, Lashinsky relays how Apple’s packaging room at one point was filled with hundreds, yes hundreds, of iPod box prototypes so that Apple could determine which box lent itself towards evoking the emotional response Apple was looking for upon opening up a product for the first time.

Fortune has published several excerpts of the book, including this article shedding light on Apple’s culture of secrecy and another one portraying iOS head Scott Forstall as Apple’s “CEO-in-waiting.” “Inside Apple” is tabulated at 240-to-272 pages and is scheduled to hit bookstores Jan. 25. Lashinsky said his book is based on numerous interviews and was born from an investigative piece he did for Fortune last year. You can pre-order “Inside Apple” at Amazon for $16.92 for the hardcover version, $12.99 for the Kindle version, or $17.92 if you prefer audio format. The iBookstore also has it available for pre-order, priced at $12.99.

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