March 4th, 2009
Apple kills rumor, handles desktop news exactly right
Score one for Apple when it comes to squashing a blogosphere rumor.
The rumor mill had just started spinning its wheels with buzz of a March 24 Apple event - presumably to announce a refresh to the Mac desktop line - when the company unexpectedly made the announcement in the form of a press release yesterday. No splashy events at Cupertino headquarters or San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Just the announcement.
It was exactly the right way to handle it.
Think for a moment back to January and the Macworld event in San Francisco. The blogosphere - myself included - was critical of Marketing VP Phil Schiller’s keynote speech at the convention, the company’s final appearance on that stage. Those announcements - a new Macbook and upgrades to iLife and iWork - were kind of snoozers. They certainly weren’t what we’d come to expect from the opening keynote at Macworld.
A decade ago, Apple needed the Macworld stage to generate some excitement around its newest products - the iPod and iTunes among them. It also needed a showman like Steve Jobs to stand up there and sell not only the products but also the coolness factor.
Today, Apple’s products more or less sell themselves, with a little help from word of mouth marketing and widespread blogging from a loyal fan base. Apple stores have proven themselves to be popular testing grounds for the products. And when the company does make its next revolutionary, game-changing announcement, all it has to do is send a cryptic invitation to the tech press and it shall have all the attention it desires.
Tuesday’s announcement was not the game-changing event that deserved an event of its own. Plus, any Apple event just prompts more questions about Steve Jobs’ health and the company just finished dodging those questions at its annual shareholders meeting.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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