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What a bizarre article. This could have just as easily been written about Google or Samsung or any other smartphone manufacturer. The reason Apple should cease

What a bizarre article. This could have just as easily been written about Google or Samsung or any other smartphone manufacturer. The reason Apple should cease keynotes, from what I can parse from the vague and scattershot article, is the following: * The Frogger demo was weird and out-of-touch * "It feels a little obscene to gather to worship a $1,000 phone" * Apple execs tout that new iPads are made with 100% recycled aluminum, whereas Microsoft and Amazon employees are staging climate change walkouts * The event seemed "eerily calm", like a "super chill birthday party" (what?) * The keynotes used to just appeal to white, middle-aged men, but now they have more women and POC featured * And, finally: "The company’s flagship product — the iPhone — no longer feels like a piece of the future dropped from into the hands of mere mortals. It feels like, well, a phone, a commodity. And so the whole thing seems gratuitous." Such a strange article.

paggle 7y ago
The article couldn’t have been written about Google or Samsung, because what the NYT is saying is that Apple keynotes, once considered capital-N News by the press and public, now have all the excitement of a Samsung press event. They ascribe this to a lack of innovation in the iPhone but I think it’s really just the lack of Steve Jobs. The iPhone releases have always been about speeds and camera quality — Steve Jobs just had the star power of an entertainment celebrity and got people interested in these releases in a way that is not sustainable in his absence. Now it’s back to “Mega Corporation releases new product lineup.”
- jecxjo 7y ago
  I always found them to be funny BECAUSE all they showed off was speed and a new camera. Past the first iPhone release much of the technology was already in Android phones before Apple. The whole "but we perfect the technology" was such a BS answer that I never really cared to see how Apple now had multi-touch, or Biometrics, or whatever else last year's tech you're adding it and charging crazy prices for.
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    Multi touch from Apple was a big deal, heck, there was only one bad implementation of a capacitive screen phone when the iPhone came out.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    No phone really did Face ID or Touch ID right before iPhone, and multi-touch was basically nonexistent before Apple popularized it.
  - basch 7y ago
    Perfecting Battery management and Privacy settings made iOS markedly better for normal person long term usage, something google didnt really resolve until Android 9. Even if Android had features first, the overall OS was a drag on battery, and apps were an all or nothing allow. Even if those things dont matter to people as a flashy feature, they matter. My point is, when you are building a foundation, having better windows doesnt make you better. An accomplishment doesnt count fully if you missed the scope of what you were supposed to achieve.
DonaldPShimoda 7y ago
I'd go beyond "bizarre" and "strange" and say that this article is just bad. --- (From here, I'm responding to the article via your points. This is not directed at you.) * The Frogger demo was weird and out-of-touch I can't argue with this on its own, but it was like 2 minutes out of a 2-hour presentation. Get over yourself. Also, it was being demoed by the company that made it, not Apple directly. Apple invited the company, and they chose to make this demo. (I'm sure Apple had input on the demo, but it's not like they'd say "No, don't show the primary mechanics of the game because it won't be exciting.") * "It feels a little obscene to gather to worship a $1,000 phone" So why did you go? Surely you knew this was the intent from the beginning. * Apple execs tout that new iPads are made with 100% recycled aluminum, whereas Microsoft and Amazon employees are staging climate change walkouts But that's the employees, not the companies. The employees of Microsoft and Amazon are walking out because their companies are doing almost nothing. While recycled aluminum isn't exactly a Holy Grail of environmental sustainability, it's certainly a positive step and something we should expect wherever we can get it, so it seems reasonable for Apple to highlight this. Also, 100% of Apple's "offices, retail locations, and data centers run on 100% renewable energy", and they've reduced their carbon footprint by some 35% since 2015 [0]. It seems absurd to be upset at them over this, of all things. [0] https://www.apple.com/environment/our-approach/ https://www.apple.com/environment/our-approach/ * The event seemed "eerily calm", like a "super chill birthday party" (what?) Because it wasn't full of HYPE, they should cease doing keynotes in the future? If you're not into it... just don't go or watch. Wait for the tech specs to drop after the event. Not hard. * The keynotes used to just appeal to white, middle-aged men, but now they have more women and POC featured The horror! * And, finally: "The company’s flagship product — the iPhone — no longer feels like a piece of the future dropped from into the hands of mere mortals. It feels like, well, a phone, a commodity. And so the whole thing seems gratuitous." It's almost like — gasp! — it's not possible to create "pieces of the future" on a yearly basis. --- Don't get me wrong: Apple is not without flaws. (For a recent example, see their handling of the whole Uyghur issue. That was awful.) But these are such minor points that can easily be alleviated by the author of the article simply not going. If you're not into it, don't go! Apple can do whatever they want, and other people can pay attention (or not!) as they wish. But trying to say "Hey, I didn't your event so I think you should stop having it" is just dumb.

paggle 7y ago

The article couldn’t have been written about Google or Samsung, because what the NYT is saying is that Apple keynotes, once considered capital-N News by the press and public, now have all the excitement of a Samsung press event. They ascribe this to a lack of innovation in the iPhone but I think it’s really just the lack of Steve Jobs. The iPhone releases have always been about speeds and camera quality — Steve Jobs just had the star power of an entertainment celebrity and got people interested in these releases in a way that is not sustainable in his absence. Now it’s back to “Mega Corporation releases new product lineup.”

jecxjo 7y ago
I always found them to be funny BECAUSE all they showed off was speed and a new camera. Past the first iPhone release much of the technology was already in Android phones before Apple. The whole "but we perfect the technology" was such a BS answer that I never really cared to see how Apple now had multi-touch, or Biometrics, or whatever else last year's tech you're adding it and charging crazy prices for.
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Multi touch from Apple was a big deal, heck, there was only one bad implementation of a capacitive screen phone when the iPhone came out.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  No phone really did Face ID or Touch ID right before iPhone, and multi-touch was basically nonexistent before Apple popularized it.
- basch 7y ago
  Perfecting Battery management and Privacy settings made iOS markedly better for normal person long term usage, something google didnt really resolve until Android 9. Even if Android had features first, the overall OS was a drag on battery, and apps were an all or nothing allow. Even if those things dont matter to people as a flashy feature, they matter. My point is, when you are building a foundation, having better windows doesnt make you better. An accomplishment doesnt count fully if you missed the scope of what you were supposed to achieve.

DonaldPShimoda 7y ago

I'd go beyond "bizarre" and "strange" and say that this article is just bad. --- (From here, I'm responding to the article via your points. This is not directed at you.) * The Frogger demo was weird and out-of-touch I can't argue with this on its own, but it was like 2 minutes out of a 2-hour presentation. Get over yourself. Also, it was being demoed by the company that made it, not Apple directly. Apple invited the company, and they chose to make this demo. (I'm sure Apple had input on the demo, but it's not like they'd say "No, don't show the primary mechanics of the game because it won't be exciting.") * "It feels a little obscene to gather to worship a $1,000 phone" So why did you go? Surely you knew this was the intent from the beginning. * Apple execs tout that new iPads are made with 100% recycled aluminum, whereas Microsoft and Amazon employees are staging climate change walkouts But that's the employees, not the companies. The employees of Microsoft and Amazon are walking out because their companies are doing almost nothing. While recycled aluminum isn't exactly a Holy Grail of environmental sustainability, it's certainly a positive step and something we should expect wherever we can get it, so it seems reasonable for Apple to highlight this. Also, 100% of Apple's "offices, retail locations, and data centers run on 100% renewable energy", and they've reduced their carbon footprint by some 35% since 2015 [0]. It seems absurd to be upset at them over this, of all things. [0] https://www.apple.com/environment/our-approach/ https://www.apple.com/environment/our-approach/ * The event seemed "eerily calm", like a "super chill birthday party" (what?) Because it wasn't full of HYPE, they should cease doing keynotes in the future? If you're not into it... just don't go or watch. Wait for the tech specs to drop after the event. Not hard. * The keynotes used to just appeal to white, middle-aged men, but now they have more women and POC featured The horror! * And, finally: "The company’s flagship product — the iPhone — no longer feels like a piece of the future dropped from into the hands of mere mortals. It feels like, well, a phone, a commodity. And so the whole thing seems gratuitous." It's almost like — gasp! — it's not possible to create "pieces of the future" on a yearly basis. --- Don't get me wrong: Apple is not without flaws. (For a recent example, see their handling of the whole Uyghur issue. That was awful.) But these are such minor points that can easily be alleviated by the author of the article simply not going. If you're not into it, don't go! Apple can do whatever they want, and other people can pay attention (or not!) as they wish. But trying to say "Hey, I didn't your event so I think you should stop having it" is just dumb.