Monday, June 17, 2013

Apple's WWDC-Kickoff Video: Lame Poem or Convincing Argument?

  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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