Apple is in Deficit, September 9 Event Needs a Treat
Editorial - Apple is in Deficit, September 9 Event Needs a Treat
by , 1:20 PM EDT, September 4th, 2008
Apple has been in deficit mode lately with respect to customer perceptions. A botched MobileMe launch, perceived problems with the iPhone 3G, and the endless wait for new notebooks have Apple customers in a bit of a funk. It's time to really rock.
Apple's event scheduled for September 9 has the title, "Let's Rock." Of course, that's just a nifty saying that has the air of excitement in the English language, cleverly chosen by marketing people.
But what if Apple decided to really rock? What if Apple has decided that things haven't been going so swimmingly lately and elects to pull a rabbit out of the hat?
Don Reisinger suggested yesterday that this will be just another ho-hum event, and he could be right. The author, who follows Apple closely, suggested that Apple would start by gushing over the iPod, booming sales, iTunes store success, then launch some new iPods, maybe an iPod nano 4G with possibly the same old form factor as the 2G, a cheaper iPod touch, [maybe some iTunes store enhancements], and then a band will perform.
Indeed that would be a yawner.
These events really are becoming routine. Has Apple lost its ability to surprise and delight us? Does the rollout of some new iPods for the holdays really merit an "event" to which the press is all invited with eager expectations?
Fall is in the air. School is starting. The nation is hurting economically, but distractions give us hope. We're still feeling the uplift from the American champions in Beijing. The crisp air of the U.S. Open in New York has tennis fans swooning. College and NFL football are kicking off. We'll be electing a new president. There's a sense of renewal this time of year.
Hey, Apple. Times are tough. We don't need another disappointment.
John Martellaro is the afternoon editor of The Mac Observer and a freelance writer. He is a former U.S. Air Force officer and has worked for NASA, White Sands Missile Range, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Apple Computer. During his nearly five years at Apple, he worked as a Senior Marketing Manager for Science and Technology, Federal Account Executive, and High Performance Computing Manager. His interests, in addition to all things Apple, include alpine skiing, science fiction, astronomy and Perl. John lives in Denver, Colorado.
Observer Comments
I agree. Apple needs to really blow everyone away this time. They need to make a statement that Apple is here, they're on top, and they have great stuff.
Unfortunately, that very expectation will prevent it from happening. Because the expectation for 9/9 is so high, no matter what they announce various news outlets will find fault with it. 320Gb iPod Touch? It won't be 1Tb. A new Macbook Pro? It won't have a quad processor. Steve Jobs does the presentation? He's too thin, or too fat.
When Apple rolled out the iMac it was a big surprise. Nowadays between leaks and speculation IMO expectations always exceed reality.
But I'm still hoping for a Macbook with higher specs and if I'm lucky a lower price
Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:59 pm Subject: Apple is in Deficit, September 9 Event Needs a Treat
The time they unveiled the MacBook Air; how many of us were expecting a MacBook nano? That's what they need to launch now. They could've kicked off the mini laptop market at the beginning of the year and stolen Asus' thunder. If they don't give us one now, they could miss that boat altogether. I've always bought Macs and always recommended them and I can't believe I'm currently considering a non-Mac OS EEE.
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