Post-PC, Post Steve
Yesterday, Apple Inc. unveiled the third generation iPad. Those of us who watched the presentation were of course looking at how the new model compared to the old. Was it a great leap forward? Or just a step in the right direction? Or was it headed down the wrong path?
The same critical eye was focused on Tim Cook, Apple's CEO and Steve Jobs' successor. Sure, we Apple watchers have seen Tim before, but this was his first presentation as the boss. This was the first post-Steve exposition.
Steve Jobs was a master marketer. His enthusiasm and ability to draw others into it was widely known as the "Reality Distortion Field." He was a pitchman, a preacher, a spellbinding storyteller, a delighted child sharing his personal magic kingdom.
Tim Cook couldn't possibly match that. He didn't even try, and that's a good thing. It would have rung false, like a counterfeit Apple product from a shady street vendor.
Tim Cook is a bit slower and more thoughtful in his delivery. He's assured and relaxed and friendly, but he's not bouncing around the stage with unrestrained childish glee. Think of Tim as a somewhat more relaxed and informal Tim Gunn.
Just as Apple takes complex technology and distills it down to its simplest and most elegant expression, Apple presentations take a geek's festival of gigathis and megathat and make it comprehensible. The new iPad screen has a million more pixels than your 46" high-def TV in 9.7 inches. Simple. (In fact, the new iPad's resolution was higher than the big screen displays on stage, which made it a bit difficult to show the differences between the older model and this one.)
Just as Steve increasingly did as his health declined, Cook turned over the demos to others like V.P. Phil Schiller. Autodesk's representative explained their new sketchpad offering as one of his employees created fine art with his fingertips in 90 seconds - it's worth watching the video just to see it.
Most people, however, won't ever see this presentation. They'll see the new iPad in the Apple store, where they'll hold it in their hands, see the brilliant crisp display and its fully-saturated colors for themselves, and flip their fingers across it. After a few minutes, they'll discover that they can't put it down, and with their spare hand, reach for their wallets.
Maybe that's why Tim didn't add the customary Jobsian "And just one more thing…" hook to his presentation. The one more thing is that the iPad isn't being called the iPad 3 or the iPad HD. It's just iPad, probably because most of the sales will be to people who've never owned one before. It's a post-PC world, Tim said. The iPad is outselling every PC on the market. The revolution shouldn't start at Rev. 3.
It looks like Apple is in good hands, and perhaps the new iPad will be in good hands soon, too. Mine.
The same critical eye was focused on Tim Cook, Apple's CEO and Steve Jobs' successor. Sure, we Apple watchers have seen Tim before, but this was his first presentation as the boss. This was the first post-Steve exposition.
Steve Jobs was a master marketer. His enthusiasm and ability to draw others into it was widely known as the "Reality Distortion Field." He was a pitchman, a preacher, a spellbinding storyteller, a delighted child sharing his personal magic kingdom.
Tim Cook couldn't possibly match that. He didn't even try, and that's a good thing. It would have rung false, like a counterfeit Apple product from a shady street vendor.
Tim Cook is a bit slower and more thoughtful in his delivery. He's assured and relaxed and friendly, but he's not bouncing around the stage with unrestrained childish glee. Think of Tim as a somewhat more relaxed and informal Tim Gunn.
Just as Apple takes complex technology and distills it down to its simplest and most elegant expression, Apple presentations take a geek's festival of gigathis and megathat and make it comprehensible. The new iPad screen has a million more pixels than your 46" high-def TV in 9.7 inches. Simple. (In fact, the new iPad's resolution was higher than the big screen displays on stage, which made it a bit difficult to show the differences between the older model and this one.)
Just as Steve increasingly did as his health declined, Cook turned over the demos to others like V.P. Phil Schiller. Autodesk's representative explained their new sketchpad offering as one of his employees created fine art with his fingertips in 90 seconds - it's worth watching the video just to see it.
Most people, however, won't ever see this presentation. They'll see the new iPad in the Apple store, where they'll hold it in their hands, see the brilliant crisp display and its fully-saturated colors for themselves, and flip their fingers across it. After a few minutes, they'll discover that they can't put it down, and with their spare hand, reach for their wallets.
Maybe that's why Tim didn't add the customary Jobsian "And just one more thing…" hook to his presentation. The one more thing is that the iPad isn't being called the iPad 3 or the iPad HD. It's just iPad, probably because most of the sales will be to people who've never owned one before. It's a post-PC world, Tim said. The iPad is outselling every PC on the market. The revolution shouldn't start at Rev. 3.
It looks like Apple is in good hands, and perhaps the new iPad will be in good hands soon, too. Mine.