End Of An Era
17/12/08 18:34 Filed in: They Get It
In 1999, I had my first taste of how cool the internet could be. In 1999, there was no Facebook, YouTube, or MySpace. Instead, people relied on GeoCities to pronounce their love of Dean Cain. Google was just a search engine. And for me, a diehard Apple fanatic, I was able to watch a live streaming event of Steve Jobs’ keynote address at MacWorld. It was at this MacWorld that Apple unveiled the Blue & White G3 tower. A form factor that has influenced every tower that Apple has made since.
Blue & White G3 Tower:
Mac Pro:
This video webcast was the first taste of Macworld that I would ever get. The annual apple event was mac-nerd mecca. Every year, San Francisco flooded with powerbooks and mock-turlenecks. The 1999 the webcast was choppy and very poorly compressed. It looked like I was watching it through a kaleidoscope. But even still, I was in awe. After all, this little pixelated video was my window to a place that I could not go. And it was a sign of things to come.
Over the years, I would tune in to the annual Apple webcast. Newtons gave way to iPods. iPods gave way to iPhones. And PowerPC gave way to Intel. As time progressed, Apple started to webcast more events throughout the year. But the big one was always MacWorld. I remember the “Flower Pot” imac being announced. Although I had already seen what it looked like thanks to Time magazine. I watched as the iPod became a worldwide phenomenon. But more importantly I watched my beloved computing platform get re-invented into a lifestyle. Or an iLifestyle if you will.
Today Apple announced that this January’s macworld will be the last for Apple. And Steve Jobs will not deliver the keynote address. Instead, Apple is going to focus on smaller, more intimate events to announce their products(with accompanying webcasts of course). And they are going to do it on their own time. And they are going to reach just as many people. And that is why Apple gets it. As much as it pains me to think of a world without MacWorld. The annual conference has become a dinosaur.
Focussing your energy into debuting products on a specific date each year is just not a valid choice anymore. How many products has Apple had ready to go, but had to wait for months in order for Macworld to come along? And conversely, how many products has Apple had to rush in order to make the debut at Macworld. The products suffer because of this. If you wait too long, your cool new gadget becomes old news. And if you rush it, your product isn’t going to be as good as you would have liked it to be. Apple has been moving away from the “announce it at MacWorld” philosophy for some time now. We’ve started to see a rise in “Apple Special Events” scattered throughout the year. And MacWorld has been pushed further and further towards the back burner. And I support this decision.
I’ll pine for the good ole days, where Jobs struts out on stage with his bottle of water and his clicker in front of a packed MacWorld convention. But I begrudgingly accept that what was once a good idea, doesn’t always remain a good idea. And MacWorld just doesn’t make sense anymore. The technology that opened up a window that enabled me to “visit” that MacWorld in 1999, ultimately became the undoing of the perennial event. And believe me, the irony is not lost on me.
Blue & White G3 Tower:
Mac Pro:
This video webcast was the first taste of Macworld that I would ever get. The annual apple event was mac-nerd mecca. Every year, San Francisco flooded with powerbooks and mock-turlenecks. The 1999 the webcast was choppy and very poorly compressed. It looked like I was watching it through a kaleidoscope. But even still, I was in awe. After all, this little pixelated video was my window to a place that I could not go. And it was a sign of things to come.
Over the years, I would tune in to the annual Apple webcast. Newtons gave way to iPods. iPods gave way to iPhones. And PowerPC gave way to Intel. As time progressed, Apple started to webcast more events throughout the year. But the big one was always MacWorld. I remember the “Flower Pot” imac being announced. Although I had already seen what it looked like thanks to Time magazine. I watched as the iPod became a worldwide phenomenon. But more importantly I watched my beloved computing platform get re-invented into a lifestyle. Or an iLifestyle if you will.
Today Apple announced that this January’s macworld will be the last for Apple. And Steve Jobs will not deliver the keynote address. Instead, Apple is going to focus on smaller, more intimate events to announce their products(with accompanying webcasts of course). And they are going to do it on their own time. And they are going to reach just as many people. And that is why Apple gets it. As much as it pains me to think of a world without MacWorld. The annual conference has become a dinosaur.
Focussing your energy into debuting products on a specific date each year is just not a valid choice anymore. How many products has Apple had ready to go, but had to wait for months in order for Macworld to come along? And conversely, how many products has Apple had to rush in order to make the debut at Macworld. The products suffer because of this. If you wait too long, your cool new gadget becomes old news. And if you rush it, your product isn’t going to be as good as you would have liked it to be. Apple has been moving away from the “announce it at MacWorld” philosophy for some time now. We’ve started to see a rise in “Apple Special Events” scattered throughout the year. And MacWorld has been pushed further and further towards the back burner. And I support this decision.
I’ll pine for the good ole days, where Jobs struts out on stage with his bottle of water and his clicker in front of a packed MacWorld convention. But I begrudgingly accept that what was once a good idea, doesn’t always remain a good idea. And MacWorld just doesn’t make sense anymore. The technology that opened up a window that enabled me to “visit” that MacWorld in 1999, ultimately became the undoing of the perennial event. And believe me, the irony is not lost on me.