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Gruber edges up to this in a footnote, but I think the prerecorded keynotes are particularly corrosive to the spirit of risk and excitement that he misses in Ti

Gruber edges up to this in a footnote, but I think the prerecorded keynotes are particularly corrosive to the spirit of risk and excitement that he misses in Tim Cook’s Apple. Jobs cared deeply about the keynotes and was ruthlessly strategic about which feature was in and which was out, who—other than Steve—would present, and which guests would be invited onto the stage. That didn’t mean they were perfect—as Gruber points out, we saw plenty of busted demos and boring partner CEO’s. But now all the pressure to put on a high-wire act is gone, and Apple can rely on increasingly sterile and repetitive “ultra-production” to make every new supported Fitness activity seem like a headliner, which means everything’s just indistinct, cheerfully delivered mush.

paradox460 2y ago
The most exciting part of a jobs keynote was guessing what was coming next, and if it was a hardware demo, if it would work or not, and if not, how would jobs react
concinds 2y ago
Prerecorded doesn't work. You're watching a 2 hour long ad, and you feel like you are. It was stilted, the presenters sounded borderline AI-generated, and the small bits of humor still had me feeling like the joke was on me, and that I was a sucker for tuning in. And it's clear that Tim and co. don't understand Jobs's pacing and narrative structure whatsoever. It felt amateurish, even worse than previous pre-recorded keynotes. Jobs used superlatives, but he didn't use them like that. He also didn't scream, Tim. It's funny. In early 2022, the Apple blogosphere loudly wondered when Apple would go back to "real" keynotes, since Covid was dying down. But Apple was already batting away antitrust concerns, devs were pissed, and WWDC was coming up. I'm convinced that Apple was worried about unenthusiastic crowds, laughter, or even a couple of boos, and decided to delay the return some more. I guess they never got that confidence back.

paradox460 2y ago

The most exciting part of a jobs keynote was guessing what was coming next, and if it was a hardware demo, if it would work or not, and if not, how would jobs react

concinds 2y ago

Prerecorded doesn't work. You're watching a 2 hour long ad, and you feel like you are. It was stilted, the presenters sounded borderline AI-generated, and the small bits of humor still had me feeling like the joke was on me, and that I was a sucker for tuning in. And it's clear that Tim and co. don't understand Jobs's pacing and narrative structure whatsoever. It felt amateurish, even worse than previous pre-recorded keynotes. Jobs used superlatives, but he didn't use them like that. He also didn't scream, Tim. It's funny. In early 2022, the Apple blogosphere loudly wondered when Apple would go back to "real" keynotes, since Covid was dying down. But Apple was already batting away antitrust concerns, devs were pissed, and WWDC was coming up. I'm convinced that Apple was worried about unenthusiastic crowds, laughter, or even a couple of boos, and decided to delay the return some more. I guess they never got that confidence back.