Apple had to buy many of its old products for its pricey design book

Apple's book -- yes, book -- Designed by Apple in California, which looks back at 20 years of Apple's product design, goes on sale on Nov. 16. And yes, it's expensive ($300 for the large copy and $200 for the small copy) just like Apple's devices.

It's strange for Apple to release a book that, well, celebrates itself. As soon as it was announced, people jumped on social media to declare how Apple's lost its way. That the book shows the company has taken its eye off the ball. Steve Jobs would never have released a book!

Except maybe Jobs would have.

In an interview published by Wallpaper, Apple chief design officer Jony Ive says they first started thinking about creating the book about eight years ago. That's three years before Jobs passed away from pancreatic cancer.

Ive also reveals something shocking: Apple didn't have an archive of its own products.

"Many of the products that you see, we actually had to go out and purchase [laughs]," Ive told Wallpaper. "It's a rather shameful admission, but it's just not an area that we really invested much time or energy in, so we started to build an archive of the physical products."

Crazy, right?

Apple, the tech company that leads the industry with purposeful product designs capable of convincing millions of people to buy their products before even seeing them in person, didn't have its own products to refer back to.

Apple's focus is on the future, not the past, so reminiscing isn't something its core designers do often, Ive said.

Ive's fondness for experimenting with new materials also extended beyond electronics to the book. The team behind the book actually created custom paper and custom inks to accurately portray the products and colors. Moreover, all of the products were re-shot over the years as photographic technology improved.

If you get a chance, the entire interview is well worth the read.