anyone else over the random whining and complaining culture? It is so annoying to see some people just complain about something that is so ridiculous, you ask yourself, seriously?
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Anyone Else Over Apple's Keynote Culture?
- Thread starter mashinhead
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It was special when only Apple had them, and/or when each year seemed to be full of breakthrough after breakthrough announcements from a true visionary. Now so many talking heads from various orgs don black turtlenecks on stage that’s it’s just not as special anymore.
I’ve seen some of the other keynotes…Apple’s are still very special, imo.
Relatively speaking, sure I agree.
But as a whole, the more that "everyone" has keynotes, the less special Apple's are to me.
As a kid in the 80's, seeing a BMW out and about was a real special treat. My friend's father was a doctor and had a Mercedes as a DD and it was the only Mercedes I recall seeing in my area. And I was a car guy who could tell makes/models just by their headlights at night, so I knew what I was looking for. Now there are several certified pre-owned BMW's in driveways in each block of my neighborhood, some as a first car for a 22 y/o. Are BMW's less special than before? You betcha!
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I don’t find the bolded to be true. Apple has a special flair with theirs.
I miss the days when they had keynotes spread out over the year. Under Tim's Apple, you get a WWDC, and then 2 or so more during the fall.
Until the last MacWorld (2009) you had a January event, spring event, WWDC, and 1-2 fall events. Even after they stopped attending MacWorld, you'd have a spring event, WWDC, and several fall events. Now Apple prefers to keep everything under wraps and release a bunch of stuff in the fall. Why not have a spring event for Apple Watch and iPad, (and Macs), WWDC, iPhone event (with more Macs)?? Why jam almost all new products in the September-October months?
Until the last MacWorld (2009) you had a January event, spring event, WWDC, and 1-2 fall events. Even after they stopped attending MacWorld, you'd have a spring event, WWDC, and several fall events. Now Apple prefers to keep everything under wraps and release a bunch of stuff in the fall. Why not have a spring event for Apple Watch and iPad, (and Macs), WWDC, iPhone event (with more Macs)?? Why jam almost all new products in the September-October months?
Just my opinion but that sounds boring. Yes a lot of us think Apple keynote approach to marketing is sometimes way too much fluff, still your method would be the opposite, zero excitement, like a company that doesn't care about marketing their products, just update the web pages.
Ever watched the keynotes at various trade shows? Companies all try to welcome, entertain, and educate all viewers to new product/or new models to what is exciting/desirable about it. Its a lot better then waiting for some YouTube personalities to demonstrate what the company website lacked.
The flair in Apple’s keynotes is special, yes. The keynotes themselves are just not as special as they once were.
They need to cut through the noise. Creating anticipation and scarcity drives sales for apple.
So you want to be kept in the dark for 2 more weeks (as delivery is what determines everything that come before not the other way round)?
Sure, no prob. Just don't visit any technews sites (or Apple itself), just wander trough your local big box store once a week and if the new stuff is there it is there......
What was special about older keynotes? Yes include all the MacWorld events with their live big stage presentations. The one more thing ploy? Seriously I haven't seen a pattern where I particularly liked the old keynotes versus the new. Perhaps introducing products in their infancy seemed more amazing. Recent improvements aren't any less amazing, such as when the M1 products were announced. Perhaps we all becoming accustoming to tech too much compared to the old days.
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What I bonded above plays a large part, for me.
For me, it is the combination of:
1) One of the first to run these charismatic stage shows.
2) New-to-the-world first-of-a-kind breakthroughs like the iPod, iphone, ipad, MacBook Air, etc. After your first time, it’s never the same as the first time.
3) Steve Jobs as the ringleader. He was both visionary and a business leader. Just not the same now.
4) Even though Apple had been around for 5 years, the caterpillar was now blossoming into a butterfly. Apple was the “new-to-the-party” darling while Windows was getting bloated and just plain silly with its every-few-years let’s-try-THIS spaghetti-on-the-wall overhauls. “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC.” The world generally loves the underdog.
5) The world’s manufacturers hadn’t yet fully started following (stealing) Apple’s magic sauce (their keynotes, their industrial design aesthetic, packaging aesthetic, stores that you were excited to travel to and browse). Apple was different. Now that everyone copies Apple, it’s just not as special.
From around 2005-2013 it was the perfect combination of lightning in a bottle.
Now that Apple’s been around a while, now that they no longer have a “Jobs,” now that a lot of their “innovative breakthroughs” are just mostly refinements or too often, forced change, now that all the world’s manufacturers are minimalist copiers, now that too many of Apple’s recent ”improvements” have flopped hard for many (butterfly Keyboard, minimalist OS’s that just lost their intuitiveness and charm as compared to before, all the port/jack embargoing)…all that I mention is the substance that their keynotes are based on, and now everything about the newer keynotes just doesn’t feel as special as before. YMMV.
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I enjoy them. Does that make me a bad person?
Lol, fair point on the the phrase ‘hate’, what I meant is for me it’s fine the have an alternative view on something such as “I think chocolate ice cream is the best flavour”, what I don’t understand is “I don’t like chocolate Ice cream so it shouldn’t exist”, this discussion to me seems like the latter. I take your points on board that they are possibly less important now for the reasons you give, but apple still controls the message and timing much more with keynote than YT releases.
The last year or so I stopped watching the various Apple keynotes as not really relevant to me anymore. I’ve never had to have the latest/greatest, and upgrade every 4-6 years only. So for me, I can easily, quickly, and more enjoyably read about the keynote highlights the next day for whatever might pique my interest. I did consider upgrading my 27” 5k iMac from 2017 and I’ve been pretty impressed with the new M1 iMac, but I’ll wait for the larger iMac if/when it happens. I’m also pretty much over the “excitement” of Apple executives as they discuss every little change including a new…wait for it…emoji. Be still my heart.
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I am a fan of Apple keynotes of Steve Jobs era. Every Steve Jobs' keynotes is a reference for how to excel in presentation. Amazing, entertaining, and informative.
Post Jobs in person keynotes was okay at first, but the excitement just went downhill. Ive never showed his face anymore, and everybody was just reading teleprompters. Even Phil could seem uninterested, practically just reading the texts on the slide verbatim. Craig was practically the only presenter that seemed to show enthusiasm.
Covid-era keynotes have incredible production values. Although the presenters (sans Craig) are the same soulless reading of teleprompters, the video transitions and quality are just marvellous. Anybody who are into video will be entertained and amazed.
It's like watching a movie with amazing cinematography and special effects, but with bland actors. Clean but sterile. I still watch them, but yeah, the excitement is dwindling. Apple Silicon Macs are the only things that's keeping me excited.
Btw, I don't think I have ever seen Tim Cook demoed any products, ever. Part of the fun of Jobs era keynotes was the fact that Jobs himself often demoed the products. It's always fun seeing the CEO using his company's own products for the first time in public. I don't think Tim ever do one.
Post Jobs in person keynotes was okay at first, but the excitement just went downhill. Ive never showed his face anymore, and everybody was just reading teleprompters. Even Phil could seem uninterested, practically just reading the texts on the slide verbatim. Craig was practically the only presenter that seemed to show enthusiasm.
Covid-era keynotes have incredible production values. Although the presenters (sans Craig) are the same soulless reading of teleprompters, the video transitions and quality are just marvellous. Anybody who are into video will be entertained and amazed.
It's like watching a movie with amazing cinematography and special effects, but with bland actors. Clean but sterile. I still watch them, but yeah, the excitement is dwindling. Apple Silicon Macs are the only things that's keeping me excited.
Btw, I don't think I have ever seen Tim Cook demoed any products, ever. Part of the fun of Jobs era keynotes was the fact that Jobs himself often demoed the products. It's always fun seeing the CEO using his company's own products for the first time in public. I don't think Tim ever do one.
Yeah Jobs keynotes were the best, I still enjoy them though but the live ones were better, the covid ones are too "perfect"
well there are some PR / marketing reasons (obviously) and practical reasons why eliminating any more might not be possible.
1. they DO often just drop products. most often these are simple updates where the new model has a faster processor etc. or are very simple accessories like new color watch bands. on occasion what i'd consider to be a fairly major new product such as the airpods pro were launched by news release.
2. marketing does matter. with major products like a new iphone taking the time to explain the product to both consumers and media helps create a narrative that convinces people to upgrade or buy. just dropping the iphone each year with a webpage highlight list will cost apple money.
3. lag time between keynote, ordering, and arriving stinks but its a reality for the major categories that i don't think apple could fix if they tried, at least without losing all semblance of secrecy and hype for new products. 15-20 years ago apple was still small enough that a new iPod or iMac could be stocked in apple stores the morning of a keynote so people could go buy it the same day but now apple sells 10s of millions of some product categories... sometimes in days or weeks. its a massive logistical process getting that much product out to the world and it is impossible to keep secret so if they want to announce a product with any bit of surprise they can't be ready to deliver it the same day, or the secret would have long been out.
I get what you mean about keynotes, but honestly i think apple does like 3-4 a year now and that isn't too crazy for a company with as many significant products as they have.
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once... sorta. in the fall 2014 apple keynote Tim Cook introduced the apple watch and was the lead presenter for the entire segment detailing the product from start to finish, taking everyone through all the slides and features much like Phil does. he did however have the apple watch lead engineer do the brief segment where the watch is demoed in real time on stage.
I was never into them in the first place. I just buy whatever's on the market, if/when I need it. I don't think I've ever watched 1 full Keynote in 8 years of using Apple devices.