Apple Keynote Speeches

[iStudentUK]

I'm quite interested to know what people think about the quality of the Apple Keynote Speeches of recent years.

Now I enjoy the excitement of not knowing what's coming, and sometimes it's great and sometimes disappointing; but I'm always struck with how the quality of the speeches are just 'ok'. I personally find Steve Jobs (and the various minions that make an appearance form time to time) an average public speaker, not bad but not great either.

There are even books and online guides about 'how to give a presentation like Steve Jobs'! Whereas some people I know are quite underwhelmed.

 

[FX120]

Steve's method is only successful because he has an audience so dedicated and interested in Apple. The RDF just wouldn't work on a different audience for a company which didn't have such a loyal following.

To the average consumer, they'd probably be bored. Which is why Apple has spent billions over the years creating and running clever 30-second ad spots to try and pull the average person in.

 

[jaw04005]

If you think Jobs is an average speaker, you really should watch a few CES keynotes by Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer.

Favorite Gates note of all time, the CES one with Conan O' Brian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNGFKdN0w0s

And I like this one too, the Windows 98 launch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzFUcDKC64E

Oops. Forgot about Ballmer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

Steve's method is only successful because he has an audience so dedicated and interested in Apple. The RDF just wouldn't work on a different audience for a company which didn't have such a loyal following.

Maybe, maybe not. The press tends to get caught up in Jobs' reality distortion field too. It's not limited to just Apple users. In fact, most of Jobs' keynotes as of late didn't even have the general public attending.

On a technical quality, you have to give Apple credit. There are rarely major missteps or problems during their presentations. They don't have demo machines crashing, their prototypes normally work as planned, slides are ready, etc. The few times it's happened, they recovered fairly quickly.

The people at Apple PR are pros at presentations. They force the press to sit in between a large group of Apple employees (in the back) and Apple executives (in the front near the stage). And to top it off you have Jobs with all his charisma and the famous "Boom!," "Just works," "Wow," and "Like magic" marketing jargon.

It's easy to get caught up in the ceremonial aspects of it all.

Steve Jobs, "Boom" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8L39UwOS-Y
Rare Apple Keynote Bloopers, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKKQNZG3rE&feature=related

Jobs' best keynote performance of recent years in the 2007 Macworld iPhone announcement. He brought his A game to that presentation.

There was an interesting article a few years ago that claimed Jobs spent roughly two weeks rehearsing his Macworld keynotes with daily meetings about the keynote beginning about a month before.

I believe it was this: http://writersblocklive.com/the-wizard-of-pods-2006-02

 

[djellison]

They're OK. They've lost a LOT recently. His three-devices-in-one-device thing for the iPhone was utter crap. There hasn't been a good 'One last thing' for a long time. I do tend to find them very underwhelming to be honest.

jaw - just because you cite a few Microsoft exec's being crap on stage, that doesn't mean Jobs is good at presenting. Lest we forget, Jobs has had to resort to backup machines because of bugs, just like that Win98 launch, he's had umms, errs, cocks ups, screw ups, totally fudged lines and computer crashes, just like Microsoft have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKKQNZG3rE&feature=player_embedded

 

[jaw04005]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKKQNZG3rE&feature=player_embedded

It's the same link I posted. Or did we cross the streams with my edited post?

 

[djellison]

We did.

 

[Enrique01]

I think that the apple's keynote speech was ok. It was a success only because apple has a lot of genuine customers who are really interested in its product. I feel that they could have done much better.

 

[*LTD*]

Steve Jobs keeps them upbeat, simple, with high-quality visuals and it all looks very slick. Of course, having a great product always helps.

Just compare MS keynote travesties to Apple speeches. You can tell the difference.

You can assume that only Apple loyalists can really identify with SJ's keynotes, but when the actual products hit the market they become game-changers. You can easily argue that SJ's keynotes can be enjoyed by everyone.

 

[hazza.jockel]

I found his iphone OS 4 keynote really boring. He kept repeating things or dragging them out. The other people they came out were equally as boring. I also felt he kept pausing for applause that never came. Or maybe he was just pausing for a breath or somethin.