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Behind a Steve Jobs Keynote
Shree writes "The Guardian has an article about what it takes to prepare that smooth Steve Jobs-style keynote. When Steve launches iPhoto and says 'here we have 5000 or so photos', he actually means here we have 5000 or so carefully picked photos ... " From the article: "Objectively, Apple Computer is a mid-sized company with a tiny share of its primary market. Apple Macintoshes are only rarely seen in corporate environments, and most software companies don't even offer Apple-compatible versions of their products. To put it another way, Apple is just bit larger than Cadbury-Schweppes and about the same size as Nike or Marks and Spencer in terms of annual sales. Such comparisons come up short in trying to describe Apple's place in the world of business, because they leave out a key factor: Steve Jobs."
The power of Steve Jobs is that he is able to get people to notice what he's doing. Part of that includes his large following of people who hang on his every word. It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that he works very hard to maintain the effortless appearance of his public persona in order to maintain that following.
Apple makes great products, sometimes jumping into market segments that have other businesses with a head start, makes them slick and easy to use, then markets the hell out of them. The iPod wasn't the first portable mp3 player, but it put the product on the map. If next week's keynote unveils a media-centered Mac Mini with DVR features, it won't be the first such creature (Microsoft's been trying to break into that segment for a while, and Bill Gates just demoed similar features in Vista), but I guarantee that Jobs will unveil products that are much closer to market, and that the proportional effect on Apple's sales will be tremendous...
-JMP
People who use Macs picture themselves as a blend of geek and artist. A shiny, beautiful piece of equipment that is easy to use and gets the job done is like a little slice of heaven to them. So when Steve Jobs does his dog and pony show, everyone laps it up.
The difference between Macs and clothing or books is that the personal computer industry, being the interface between pop-culture and the mysterious world of high tech, gets more press and money thrown at it than most other industries. So when there's a new marketing effort it gets picked up by more of the world than similar efforts in other industries.
This isn't to say Steve Jobs doesn't deserve credit for being good at what he does, but I don't think he's particularly unique in his approach or methods.
"...To put it another way, Apple is just bit larger than Cadbury-Schweppes and about the same size as Nike or Marks and Spencer in terms of annual sales..." Apple influences IT market as much as AMD or Intel do. Sometimes even more.
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The things that impressed me most about the article were the apparent commitment to excellence that Steve Jobs has; His hands-on, detail-oriented, perfectionistic level of involvement; and the demi-god status he appears to receive from his employees. That's why he's so successful, IMHO.
I think describing Steve Jobs as a rock star of the business world is fairly accurate. People forget that no matter how much technology changes or how many articles talk about the evolving nature our society, people are still primarily influenced by their reactions to others as individuals. For whatever reason, Jobs captivates those around him. He demands a reaction, and it is frequently visceral. What's more, is that he is able to make it work for him instead of against him (we all knew people in high school who had, to some degree, this type of personabut for whatever reason, it was their greatest handicap). It's the kind of thing that other CEO's, though they may be more financially successful than Jobs, are frequently jealous of.
Just my 2 cents.
Jobs knows how to show a product to enhance the consumer's understanding. Example, I went to Sandisk's site yesterday to check out their upcoming mp3 players. The site does a horrible job letting the consumer know things like size (Apple shows the tiny Nano in someone's hand), I have to read a all the text (not that I mind reading, but the impact is not the same). Jobs, and his helpers, know how to deliver a pithy, and flashy message.
"I don't think it's selfish, to eat defenseless shellfish." -NOFX
When Steve Jobs speaks he shows enthusiasm for Apple and the products, which is expected of someone in his position. What makes his keynotes so notable is the way he invites the audience and the faithful to join in his enthusiasm, as if all are participants rather than customers.
Well, the Marks and Spencer quote may not mean much to Americans - but that quote *was* from the article - which was from the website of a UK newspaper. I do not think the UK has yet got to the point where all articles are written with an eye to being fully understood in the US, they still have hints of local flavour (and spelling ;-)
And, as a result, they don't look like idiots when plugging in a scanner BSOD's their box in front of a couple of thousand people ;)
That all said, even non-fanboys have to admit that there is something about an apple keynote that is a bit different than what the rest of the industry has. You don't see people actually "excited" about a Microsoft event (or really, any computer related event).
The vast majority are actually quite boring and to be completely honest, I think the only "excited" people at these events are those getting free food, swag or the latest copy of vs.net and a xp pro CD.
I'm not saying that the events aren't informative, and I'm not advocating that people turn release events and conventions into E3, but it would be nice if some events tried to be a bit more like apple.
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- smoke
- mirrors
- reality distortion machine
- black mock turtle necks
- Steve practicing saying "It's insanely great!" and "...and it's available immediately!"
Hey, hey, hey, I love Apple as much as the next guy, but you have to admit Steve is quite the showman (salesperson).fak3r.com
I imagine that Jobs knows pretty much where Apple is going to be in 90 days/180 days/a year. I don't think that he has such a unique vision - it is just that he has a vision. From reading the article, it seems like the guy knew exactly what he wanted from the presentation, no matter how unreasonable it seemed.
You know, if a Linux company had half the focus of a Steve Jobs and had a clear vision they would sweep the market (k/ubuntu is getting getting better each day). So many FOSS-based companies seem very passive to me when it comes to defining their product.
You can only get 'scooped' on a story if you're a reporter, i.e. you're writing your own stories. Otherwise, you see, we'd have to say that the Guardian scooped everyone. They had the story first. But that's because they actually had a writer write the thing, and Slashdot/Fark/Digg/whoever are just news aggregators (and discussion groups) that provide links to the story.
News aggregators, however, can only be accused of being "too slow". Is Slashdot "too slow"? Well, the story is dates yesterday, and the story isn't so old as to be irrelevant or out-of-date, so I'd say no. Insofar as it's a news aggregator, since I got the story in a timely fashion, I don't see room for complaints. That someone else got to the story slightly faster is far less important to me than a) whether I got the story, and b) quality of the user-experience of the news aggregator.
I used to be convinced that there are two sides to every question, but I'm not so sure anymore....
The way market share was calculated the last time I looked at the market research numbers a couple of years ago, Apple's market share for desktops and laptops was calculated against the sum total of all other windows OS brands.
At the time Apple was #1 by a good margin in laptops and in the top-5 for desktops. Yet their market share was always referred to as "miniscule."
I still don't understand why no one's bothered to mention this from the media side.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
Consider this example: The original iMac had no floppy drive and used USB ports instead of ADB.
An oft cited example, but I think a more crucial one was the use of 802.11b in the original iBook. That has also spread wildly.
One could argue that Jobs is good at spotting successful trends early, and directs his hardware development accordingly, rather than dictating the direction of the market, but who cares? Often technology you see in Macs today you see in PCs in 2 years.
That said, there's been a number of mis-steps, too, usually the tech that was developed in house at Apple eg FireWire. Disappointing that they don't even include it on their new iPods--does make one wonder if it's going away. Fewer and fewer peripherals bother to support it at all, now, in favor of USB 2.0. BlueTooth is another example--while widely supported on Macs, it just still kinda sucks when trying to find and use a non-Apple BT product. That trend has yet to take off.
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$tar -xvf
Hate to tell you this, but you're wrong on two points here:
1. My figures are based on ACTUAL SALES FIGURES from 2005. They are not 2 years old, nor are they limited to the United States (which people commonly get confused about--Apple's U.S. market share is higher than it's overall worldwide share).
2. Your figures are based on INTERNET TRAFFIC. That tells you what percentage of people browsing the internet are using a particular operating system, not what percentage of computers sold that quarter were made by a particular company.
Now, your figures would be more closely attuned to Apple's installed base, which is just fine, but that includes all computers currently in use, not new computer sold in a particular time period, which is what market share refers to.