India, April 1 -- There is a version of Apple's story that everyone knows. The garage. The return. An iMac in five colours. Those keynotes. The one more thing suspense. But there is another story - quieter, more patient, and in a way, more audacious. Of how a hardware company looked at its active base of over a billion devices and asked a question that would reshape its fortunes entirely - what if the Apple device in your hand (or on your desk) was just the beginning?

It started on 2003. The 99 cents pitch, with the iTunes Store. Steve Jobs had spent months convincing the music industry, already suspicious to any approaches, wounded by piracy, and deeply mistrustful of the internet, to let him sell their catalog online. They agreed, half...