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."

Comments

Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[jmp_nyc]

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

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Microlith]

Why he's famous should be obvious.

He's the CEO that came back and saved Apple, giving us the iMac, iPod, and MacOS X.

He also presents his company's creations with a flair that Bill G. simply doesn't have, and other companies simply can't muster cause their products really don't have any style.

Paris Hilton is famous too, but honestly for reasons I cannot fathom. Is stupidity that popular?

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Kadin2048]

Now I'm usually a big fan of Apple, but I think you're not really giving credit where credit is due (although not your fault, virtually nobody does). The decision to kill Copland and buy someone else's OS -- the key decision that led to the return of Jobs, the production of Mac OS X, and perhaps saved the company -- was not Jobs'. It's usually attributed to Ellen Hancock, originally of IBM, and who Jobs ridiculed and later basically ran out of the company.

Jobs is brilliant, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure that the credit for Mac OS X and for acquiring NeXT should be entirely his. If it hadn't been for Hancock, someone from outside the company who basically had to tell them when it was time to pull the plug, Apple might have continued along the twisted road that was Copland until finially running out of steam. And the acquisition of NeXT, along with Jobs, might never have happened.

See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copland and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Hancock

It's the industry, folks

[JamminBen]

Steve Jobs doesn't do anything that anyone else in his position wouldn't do. The reason he's such a personality and driving force is because he sells awesome gadgets to the exact people who want them. Jobs is like Ralph Lauren or Steven King. He gives his people (customers) what they want and has a personality to boot.

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.

How you deliver is important

[mcwop]

10 years ago I went to see the band Helmet, and it appeared that they were getting on stage to play as the lights went dim. Instead they played that 12 minute Michale Jackson video (the one with teh black panther in it). The audience was very irritated, becuase not many Helmet fans probably like MJ. However, when the band got up there, and the video ended the audience went nuts. It was very effective.

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.

Well... yeah.. So people prepare and rehearse

[loraksus]

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.

Yes

[mrcparker]

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.

Re:Great Story

[nine-times]

But there's room for improvement too. My earlier comment basicaly was to indicate that /. got scooped on this story.

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.

Re:Really

[Seriocomical]

"The average Asian OEM PC maker sells more computers then Apple. OBVIOUSLY these companies know what consumers want. Apple ( or rather, Steve Jobs ) does not. Apple firmly wants to remain in a niche market, or at least, Steve Jobs does."

It's not necessarily so bad to be a niche player. To draw an analogy to the auto industry, Porsche, Ferrari and BMW could be described as niche players who do not sell nearly as many vehicles as the GMs or Fords but are nevertheless financially successful and famous worldwide for building high quality, exciting and desirable products. The world of cars would be much less interesting if poorly-designed, shoddily-made, mass-market gas-guzzlers were all that was on offer. Similarly, the computer world is better off for having Apple and its products available as a choice, even if they might not alwawys be the cheapest or most widely-used ones on the market.

It's Not "Tiny" Marketshare: Here's why

[mpapet]

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.