At first blush, the iPhone from Apple, the new microprocessor family from Intel and the ubiquitous Google search engine have nothing in common. One is a gadget, one is an electronic part and one is a service. Yet all of these products - much acclaimed for their creativity - depend on obscure process innovations that, while highly complex and lacking glamour, are an essential part of establishing a winning edge in commercial electronics. The success of Apple, Intel, Google and scores of other technology companies has as much or more to do with their process innovations as the products that...
photo: AP/Kevork Djansezian
