Everybody is used to the hype that surrounds Apple’s events; it’s so heavy you can detect it with a Geiger counter and you have to be sanitized before you leave the auditorium. When Apple releases products, it’s always a big deal — usually, because the products are a big deal. The launch of Leopard, the iPhone, and the Air were, whether you wanted the products or not, events of some magnitude. People gather, people watch liveblogs, people whisper and speculate until Jobs is actually off-stage. But today wasn’t an event, it was a press release. And not even a significant one. Today I really feel that Apple gamed the tech world.
The rumor-mongering didn’t help, of course, and we’re all pretty guilty of that. But here’s the thing: if you’re going to organize a big-ass event, we’re going to speculate that something worthwhile is transpiring. Well, this time we were wrong. In what has to be the tamest Apple release ever, everything was more of the same. The new Nano is just like the old tall Nano, the new Touch is almost exactly the same as the old Touch, the Classic gets a little bump, and iTunes merely collects more bloat — par for the course. What the hell, Apple?
If you don’t have a new product, don’t bullshit us, guys. Tell us “we’re only going to have a little get-together because we’re just rolling out some small stuff. Laptops are later.” If you’re going to entice journalists to come by saying it’s going to be big, and put up Gundam-sized posters saying “Let’s rock,” you better back that up! I know I’m coming off like an entitled prick here, but I really think Apple gamed the world on this one. They fooled hundreds of thousands into coming and seeing their little incremental update.
Meanwhile, Zune rolls out actually awesome updates and no one looks twice. You can hear a song on the radio, hit a button and it downloads it through the freakin air? That is space age, people! What are Apple’s new features? A song recommendation system that Pandora probably does better and an integrated Nike bit in the Touch. Nobody jogs with their Touch — that’s why they have a Nano!
Sorry, but I just had to get this stuff off my chest. Apple whips the media up into a froth at will, but this is the first time I’ve actually felt manipulated.
Update: Hey, someone else feels this way.
You speak great truth.
I don’t know….is the problem that Apple underwhelms or that we over-expect?? I feel the hype leading up to this event wasn’t as huge as in past years AND numerous outlets had almost all of the ‘releases’ pegged in the last few weeks (Kevin Rose was a prognosticating god!!). I guess if anything, this is just an example of how good a job Apple has done at exciting the masses in the past. When was the last time we got whipped up and speculated like crazy for a Microsoft or Sony or Anybody Else product??? It is because Apple HAS innovated so much in the past that we have really high expectations. As for me (an admitted Apple liker), I like the new nanos and the iPod Touch…good, not world-changing….but that is ok with me. Of course, this is a rant so you may (justifiably) rant away ;-)
i feel that ever since the iPhone was originally announced, Apple has made a mockery of all the publicity it has gained. Apple events used to represent a change in the industry, not a decrease in storage capacity, and a program titled “genius.” Apple needs to dismount their high horse and actually deliver.
Just listen to yourselves, guys.
“Apple events used to represent a change in the industry”. How can you possibly expect a company innovate *every* single time it releases a product. Look- the leaflets sent out said “let’s rock”, with an iPod. What more did you *honestly* expect??? Laptops were not to be expected.iPods are evolving slowly at the moment, yes, but why is that a reason to attack the company?
I think this is a case of Apple being punished for a run of (in the end) good luck a couple of years ago, and now that they have started to slow down (which, in the end, is good for the company: increasing profits), people are all starting to scream that it’s making a “mockery” of people. No it’s not. People are making a mockery of themselves.
The reason there was lots of hype? Us, the people. The reason, there was such an “atmosphere”? Us, the people. Is it Apple’s fault that we built our expectations far too high? No, and we shouldn’t have hissy fits about it, it’s pathetic.
You say that you think you sound like an “entitled prick”. You’re exactly right, and the same goes for a lot of people posting atm- and it’s much worse and more annoying to read something like this than to be disappointed that Apple has made me wait a couple of months before I can get a touchy-all-singing-dancing laptop, especially on a blog as respected as CrunchGear. So in the end everyone, get a grip.
I hear where you’re coming from, but still: The idea is not that they didn’t show much. Like I said, if they don’t have much, don’t make a big deal.
But when they invite like TWO THOUSAND people to the thing, hang posters the size of BUILDINGS, and urge all the press to come because “it’s gonna be big!” then it’s not us blowing it up.
If they had just said “Oh, we’re having a press release on Tuesday, we’ve got some good stuff for you” and we all jumped on them for releasing nothing, that’d be different. But that’s not what happened.
“But when they invite like TWO THOUSAND people to the thing, hang posters the size of BUILDINGS, and urge all the press to come because “it’s gonna be big!” then it’s not us blowing it up.”
The last time they really did that they wanted to push the Macbook Air. Which was if not innovate then at least pushing the envelope (no pun intended).
And really, They didn’t make such a big fuzz out of it this time, had a smaller auditorium than usual, and quite clearly pointed out that it was all going to be about music, so itunes and ipods.
I don’t think that they usually, in any way, try to communicate that something is “gonna be big” or game changing. They have done it basically once, and you know what that was? The iPhone.
The reason people respond so strongly to Apple is really because they exhibit a passion and commitment to their products that is unrivaled. Not because Apple employees are genuises, but simply because most other companies are quite soulles and not led by inspiration as much as by boring business strategies.
One other big reason is also that Apple has for a long time been focusing on user experience and usability, and now they get to enjoy the spoils for that.
Microsoft is also a magnificient company in terms of innovation or market cap, but they don’t prioritize usability or user experience in the same way. Nothing wrong with that, but clearly it’s not a path that gets consumers excited.
(oh and please ignore the poor spelling and typos ;))
Two things here:
1. We have come to expect big things so are only disappointed when it’s not something that completely blows us away. This is not Apple’s fault but our own.
2. It’s called good advertising on Apples part. Why shouldn’t Apple hype the release of a new product even if we are not “wowed” by it? If we are lemming enough to follow and show up in droves then good for them. That’s a job well done.
Thank you for expressing what I’ve been thinking all afternoon.
This event was a bunch of nothing.
Agreed….too much hype for very little delivery. It would be no big deal if they just announced they were going to release a new Nano and a few updates. Why does it always have to be some huge secret?
By the way, aside from the blog/tech readers most of the rest of the country probably had no idea an “event” was even planned today.
Good post Devin. Nice to see one of the bigger blog sites not jumping on the Apple bandwagon. Zune 3.0 deserves much more credit than it is currently getting.
I agree 100 percent. The new Zune features are killer.
don’t get me wrong, Microsoft deserves a big slap in the face for once again releasing a line of Zunes with no Xbox 360 integrated. But they new features are nice. It’s also great to see Microsoft continuing the support its back models, like the Zune 30. That means a lot to customers.
Everyone had every right to expect big things from Apple because it’s reached a point now where so many of their products needed more than just upgrades, but renewing. EG
23″ Cinema Display – This was made obsolete almost 2 years ago when others started making 24″ and bigger. Should be replaced with a 24″ & 27″ models to go with 30″
Mac mini – For some baffling reason you can only configure it with a 160gb HDD even though 2.5″ drives are available in bigger sizes (500gb). Plus we now got 2.5″ SSD’s also on the market. This applies to other things like the macbook air only offering 64gb SSD when others offer 80 & 128gb with 160 & 256gb coming soon.
Macbook pro – Almost 3 years old now and aside from the iSight cam, hasn’t changed it’s look much in even longer than that. Aesthetics aside, it’s built more like a desktop than a truly mobile computer. This is reflected by how they don’t use any of Intels low (or even ultra-low) voltage chips, but they give it an over the top graphics card (who the hell plays games on a notebook, a mac at that?) They put a more powerful graphics card into the macbook pro’s than the 24″ iMac, where’s the logic in that? The G4 powerbook’s use to get 5-6 hours battery life, these get barely more than 3. Now others have models lasting over 8 hours (even 17 and 24!!) I thought mobility meant not being tethered to an outlet.
Other things too, like where the hell are the Blu-Ray drives? Where’s their answer to the Netbook craze? The mini tablet thing?? Are they still scarred by the failed Newton?
So they upgraded the iPods (except what happened to the 160Gb Classic?), but I think just like the Nano replaced the Mini, the Touch has replaced the Nano now. If you want an iPod, you either go with the Classic for it’s big capacity or the Touch for it’s bigger screen and advanced features like the flash memory etc (should be 64gb by now). The Nano now looks like the inferior child of the Classic & Touch and has inherited none their best qualities.
That was pretty insightful.
yep.
Dude, you are out of your mind. What do people expect, flying cars? Is Apple, they sell iPods and this was an iPod/Apple event. Get over it.
fanboi :)
k, tissue now?
Agreed – these updates are nice, but didn’t warrant all the usual Apple hoopla. I guess I can always go back and watch all the old keynotes on youtube tonight at least…
You speak the truth. Today’s event was a joke of a big event. The Zune had amazing features that most of us wished for but didn’t get the buzz. WTF is going on with Apple these days? I think a Zune120 is in my future even if I have to run it in VMware on my MacBook Pro or iMac.
Exactly right
Still no folder monitoring in iTunes, how can they justify the version change for music suggestions and a grid view that was in media player 11 beta but pulled for some unknown reason?
So I’m trying to understand exactly why the tech blogs are all upset about yesterday’s announcements. It was written in several different places that yesterday was speculated to be a “non-event”. It turns out that for once the predictions were right on the money as to what would be announced and released, but even before it happened, you can look at the rumors, listen to Apple (calling the even “Let’s Rock!” and saying that it would be music-centric), and say “yeah, no new laptops today.”
Then, THEN, Apple comes out and says “hey guys, don’t forget about us, this will actually be big contrary to what EVERYONE else is saying.” *WARNING BELLS* They are doing damage control. To me that right there was the proof that yesterday wouldn’t be that big, even by Apple standards.
And now you’re upset because you let yourself be duped?
“Meanwhile, Zune rolls out actually awesome updates and no one looks twice. You can hear a song on the radio, hit a button and it downloads it through the freakin air? That is space age, people!”
i’ve been doing that on my iphone using “SHAZAM” for months.
ps – the zune still SUCKS!
They’re keeping the buzz alive with all the Apple-lemmings. Apple never has done anything ground-breaking. They’ve just packaged shiny pretty software into shinier prettier hardware. Whether anybody admits it or not … nothing they’ve done is a technological breakthrough. However, their hardware has always been gimpy and sub-standard in developmental quality.
They hold these events because the public expects them to and all the drones will oooh-and-ahhh for The Emperor’s New Clothes.
Perhaps you should ween off the caffeine! You seem awfully upset about really, a non-issue. It’s Apple’s job to promote any new product with the utmost enthusiasm. That’s what companies who want to make money, do. Sure, the new Zune has some nice features, but it’s Microsoft’s job to promote it, and they’re just not as good as promotion as Apple is. And with a market-share of 2.x%, they’re going to have to work much harder to get the word out.
It’s just a music player for God’s sake, it’s not like this greatly affects your life somehow… well, hopefully it doesn’t.
Pro-tips for you wannabe journalist types:
#1 don’t believe the hype.
#2 don’t whine about getting duped when you do buy into the hype.
You’re right. You do come off as an entitled dork.
Year ain’t over yet…