Apple opened its WWDC keynote with a two-minute animation addressing its
slim phone portfolio. Did you buy in, or roll your eyes?
It's been said that Apple would introduce two new iPhones this year, a
high-end model and a less-expensive version for emerging markets, and it's been
said that Apple would introduce them earlier than usual, to avoid giving Samsung
another long summer during which to sell millions of flagship Galaxy S
smartphones, unchallenged by a new iPhone.
Samsung has been outselling Apple, and in April Apple posted its first
profit dip in a decade. Apple, it's been said, plans to better compete against
Samsung with an Apple-style (which is to say, subtler) version of Samsung's
more-is-more strategy.
But by the end of the two-hour keynote opening Apple's Worldwide Developer
Conference (WWDC), it seemed pretty clear that no one was getting a new high-end
iPhone before the fall. And if a prepaid version of the iPhone is in the works,
nor would it be seeing the light of summer.
Indeed, before anyone set a foot on the stage, Apple neatly addressed all
the above.
It started the show with a two-minute video—a stylized poem of sorts, in
which it told the capacity audience at San Francisco's Moscone West convention
center, and the countless others watching from its live-streaming feed, where it
stands on design, timetables and the growth of its portfolio.
Joining a light piano piece and a black-and-white animation, these words
came on the screen:
if everyone
is busy making everything
how can anyone perfect anything?
we start to confuse convenience
with joy
abundance with choice
designing something requires
focus
the first thing we ask is
what do we want people to feel?
delight
surprise
love
connection
then we begin to craft around our intention
it takes time...
there are a thousand no's
for every yes
we simplify
we perfect
we start over
until everything we touch
enhances each life
it touches
only then
do we sign our work.
Designed by Apple in California
"I'm really glad you like that," Apple CEO Tim Cook said as the lights went
up, to great applause. "Those words mean a great deal to us."
But not everyone was sold.
"The poem embodies Apple's design principles and not-so-subtly begs for
time to complete the tasks they've set for themselves. There has been an
unusually long dry spell for Apple products, and the company has long since been
outrun by the impossible expectations placed upon it," Roger Kay, principal
analyst with Endpoint Technologies.
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