When I watched MacWorld this past January, I cringed at Phil Shiller's vastly inferior keynote performance. He just was no Steve Jobs. You could feel his nervousness, he spoke too fast, he often stumbled and he was definitely sweating bullets, making it obvious that he was eager to get through the keynote.
When Scott Forestall presented the iPhone OS 3.0 preview, I saw a glimmer of hope that Apple could continue post Steve.
Today, I must say Phil has been working at his speaking performance and I was actually quite engaged. He was articulate, made fewer if no mistakes and seemed much more at ease on the stage.
While Bertrand managed to convey enthusiasm about Snow Leopard, his very heavy French accent was an impediment to his presentation.
Craig Federighi, VP, Mac OS Engineering was also clear, enthusiastic and presented well.
The real star here was Scott. His presentation was clear, articulate, passionate and you could almost see a Steve twinkle in his eye. He even managed to recover rapidly from the audience's laughter and catcalls when AT&T was absent from initial MMS and tethering support.
This Keynote showed the world that there are more people hard at work behind the curtain. Steve Jobs is a masterful keynote speaker and his "Reality Distortion Field" is indeed powerful, but I think today Apple raised the confidence of its investors, developers and customers that Apple is strong and can continue once Steve Jobs inevitably leaves.
I'm personally hoping that's a long time from now. He's far from retirement age should he choose to continue at Apple and he can continue to steer Apple years ahead of the nearest competition with brilliant technology, gorgeous designs and intuitive user experience.
In the future, I'd like to see Steve return as the principal keynote speaker and face of Apple, but continue to share the stage with the people responsible for the various divisions within Apple Inc.
Phil, Bertrand, Craig and Scott. Take a bow. You deserved it today.
When Scott Forestall presented the iPhone OS 3.0 preview, I saw a glimmer of hope that Apple could continue post Steve.
Today, I must say Phil has been working at his speaking performance and I was actually quite engaged. He was articulate, made fewer if no mistakes and seemed much more at ease on the stage.
While Bertrand managed to convey enthusiasm about Snow Leopard, his very heavy French accent was an impediment to his presentation.
Craig Federighi, VP, Mac OS Engineering was also clear, enthusiastic and presented well.
The real star here was Scott. His presentation was clear, articulate, passionate and you could almost see a Steve twinkle in his eye. He even managed to recover rapidly from the audience's laughter and catcalls when AT&T was absent from initial MMS and tethering support.
This Keynote showed the world that there are more people hard at work behind the curtain. Steve Jobs is a masterful keynote speaker and his "Reality Distortion Field" is indeed powerful, but I think today Apple raised the confidence of its investors, developers and customers that Apple is strong and can continue once Steve Jobs inevitably leaves.
I'm personally hoping that's a long time from now. He's far from retirement age should he choose to continue at Apple and he can continue to steer Apple years ahead of the nearest competition with brilliant technology, gorgeous designs and intuitive user experience.
In the future, I'd like to see Steve return as the principal keynote speaker and face of Apple, but continue to share the stage with the people responsible for the various divisions within Apple Inc.
Phil, Bertrand, Craig and Scott. Take a bow. You deserved it today.
