“Signs that the traditional Steve Jobs keynote speech at Apple’s recent Worldwide Developer Conference – one of the highlights of the Mac calendar – might be slightly out of the ordinary were evident before the event even kicked off,” Seb Janacek writes for Silicon.com.
Janacek writes, “Well ahead of the event, Apple announced that CEO Jobs would be joined on stage by a coterie of executives for his keynote speech. Although Jobs frequently hands over slots to key personnel during the much-awaited stage shows, to give other execs advanced billing was odd. Keynote speeches are traditionally a Steve Jobs affair, so much so that some sections of the Mac community and press call them ‘Stevenotes.'”
“In the event, Jobs drifted in and out of the keynote, handing over significant chunks to his executives: marketing chief Phil Schiller, vice president of platform experience Scott Forstall and Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of software engineering,” Janacek writes. “It was a staggeringly dull keynote by anyone’s standards. The various non-secret Leopard features seemed OK but OS X fans will hope that the ‘top secret’ features will be more exciting than what was unveiled during the 90-minute keynote.”
“‘Has Steve Jobs lost his magic?’ asked Wired magazine following the event. News reports and blogs echoed the sentiment. Moreover, many were also alarmed by the appearance of the listless Jobs, claiming he appeared gaunt and exhausted,” Janacek writes. “Indeed, so many reports and comments popped up online about the apparent state of health of the CEO that Apple took a largely unprecedented step and issued a comment in response to speculation – saying Steve was in ‘robust’ health.”
“Is there reason to worry about Apple’s ability to deliver at future keynotes? Perhaps not. After all, the speech Jobs shared with his execs was a conference for the company’s developer community. The event for big bang announcements has traditionally been the San Francisco Macworld Expo in January and until recently the East Coast summer events,” Janacek writes.
“Besides, it’s tough work surprising an audience by pulling a rabbit out of a hat when detailed speculation about exactly what the rabbit will look like has been pored over on every Mac-related blog for months ahead of the event. If a slightly less exciting bunny emerges the magic trick becomes even less convincing,” Janacek writes. “Therein lies the real challenge for Apple – to meet the considerable expectations of thousands of Mac fans on hundreds of Mac rumour boards and blogs.”
Janacek writes, “The most interesting aspect of the entire event remains the presence of the three other Apple executives and the speculation that the division of the traditional Jobs-dominated keynote might suggest the iconic executive is looking to develop an exit strategy from the company he founded. After all, he’s already sold Pixar this year. And reports claim the CEO is ‘grooming’ a successor.”
Janacek writes, “Of the three executives on stage, only Phil Schiller would appear to be able to try and fill Jobs’ shoes. He took charge of the keynote for the introduction of the G5 iMac in Paris in 2005, while Jobs was recuperating from his illness.”
“However, what all the candidates lack is what has been infamously described as the ‘reality distortion field’ – Jobs’ ability to make anything about a new or existing product seem absurdly cool,” Janacek writes. “On the one hand, the time seems right for the CEO to stand aside. The iTunes Music Store and the iPod are market leaders, Mac OS X is mature and much-lauded and the company’s computers have completed their transition to Intel and have a new lease of life. On the other hand, the company stands at the crossroads. Apple’s evolution into a media giant is at a key stage. The company is rumoured to be in advanced discussions with the movie studios about creating an online store for movie downloads and a device to play them on.”
Janacek writes, “The level of alarm about Jobs’ appearance and the events of the keynote show two things: firstly the apparent fondness Mac fans feel for Jobs, and secondly the level at which they link the future prospects of the company with the continued leadership of its CEO.”
There is much, much more in Janacek’s full article here.
To write that Phil Schiller “lacks Jobs’ ability to make anything about a new or existing product seem absurdly cool” has to be the understatement of the year. Phil Schiller may have the ability to be a fine CEO, but please, Apple, keep him behind-the-scenes, far away from any Apple keynote stage! If forced to choose from just the three executives from the WWDC keynote, we’d pick Scott Forstall over the others faster than a Mac Pro Quad Xeon can launch Calculator.
Still, if we had a choice of anyone other than Jobs to give keynote presentations, it would no doubt have to be Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Vice President of Industrial Design. It’s all about charisma. Ive has “it.” Just watch Ive in the old Power Mac G5 Intro video below (his bit starts at 2:43) and see if you don’t agree. Throw a black mock turtleneck on him and off we go! Of course, Ive would have to be able to deliver “it” in a live keynote, too.
Related articles:
Is Steve Jobs sick? – August 08, 2006
What happens to Apple when Steve Jobs quits or dies? – March 24, 2006
What happens when Steve Jobs dies? – August 20, 2003
For God’s sake enough of this!. All of this crap over one lousy presentation.
Everyone was entertainning. PS was very funny in the iChat demo. The french guy however has to go. His accent is just a bit too heavy for speaking at such engagement.
Maybe Apple wanted to do something a little different for a change. I can’t believe soooo much has been written about this.
Schiller needs to figure out what to do with his hands. He just kinds keeps throwing them at us.
Ives? You betcha, Forstall? God bless him, but he has that automobile salesperson kind of anxiousness about him, imho. Schiller seems like he maybe just needs more stage time. I liked him.
He does that at the end of each day
Ive did a great job. I think his accent gives him extra panache. Plus he’s slightly balding and tanned… great combo for following up Steve.
How many people tune in to their preferred evening news to watch a favourite anchor personality hand off the news reports to someone else. Its just not that uncommon to mix it up a bit.
I have no problem with an accent it’s just that ideally a public speaker should be speaking in his native tongue, in a language he is most comfortable and fluent in. Since Keynotes are never going to be in anything but English this kind of rules him out just because of that.
I did think that Scott Forstall was good, he showed the ability to think on his feet which is very important in this kind of thing.
All that said, I wouldn’t pay much importance to one Keynote. Hell it could have gone “badly” even if it was all Jobs, things can go wrong, people can have an off day etc.
Boy, Give me a break.
If Apple is not glowing every second, its falling, but MicroCrap keeps backing up and stumbling and it can do no wrong.
Hey, Its a 3 day weekend. I am just going to go home and have “FUN” with my iMac. No fixing my work pc all day, no updates that need to be removed cause they cause more problems.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />, Just fun.
Just relaxing, maybe blowing up a few pixels,
See you all, Monday— er, — tuesday.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
N.
PS, Steve Jobs, if your suffering from sinus like me, just kick back, turn up the ac, and work on some more insanely great products. Cant wait to see the new iPods.
my thoughts. I bet he has been all over the place making this movie store happen by mid september that he didn’t have time to eat properly, let alone put together a bombshell keynote presentation.
What else has Steve to accomplish at Apple? He´s done it all – except dethrone Microsoft, but who cares about that anymore?
Steve´s health issues – anybody seen Steve in public since his last public appearance?- plus adding Google guy, plus stock sneakiness, plus Disney role…I would guess it is in the range of probabilities that Steve is moving on, retiring slowly, whatever.
Now if he would show up at the Paris Expo in Sept. with a healthy glow in his face and not that long-term cancer wasting-away look, gained a few pounds then I would have a different opinion.
No, but Bill Gates is leaving MS through the entrance to keep with the tradition of selecting Start to Shut Down.
Schiller needs to figure out what to do with his hands. He just kinds keeps throwing them at us.
ha! that’s what i came here to say. Watching him do the G5 iMac intro at Paris was rather painful. It was like watching a play where someone is trying so hard to remember his lines that he forgets to actually act, then compensates by throwing awkward and jerky physical flourishes in.
Schiller is potentially likeable but Ive seems like the obvious choice.
Give Steve a break. He’s running Pixar, Apple and is on the board at Disney. Maybe he didn’t have time to fully prepare for the keynote.
I read a blog once (can’t remember the url) about a guy who worked for Apple and would help prepare for the keynote. He said Jobs was absurdly demanding and a perfectionist. They spent days scripting the software presentations, Keynote.app presentation, lighting, sound, etc.
People need to stop reading into everything and quit the conspiracy theories.
“the sky is falling!”
Requirement for Apple CEO…”must have a native sense of design.”
excerpt from TIME Magazine – October 24, 2005…..
“The second lesson is about control, and to that extent, it’s a lesson about Steve Jobs himself. He is one of the technology world’s great innovators but not because he’s an engineer or a programmer. He doesn’t have an M.B.A either. He doesn’t even have a college degree. (He dropped out of Reed College after one semester.) Jobs has a great native sense of design and he has a willingness to be a pain in the neck about what matters most to him. Jobs doesn’t care just about winning. He’s willing to lose. He has done it often enough. He’s just not willing to be lame, and that may, increasingly, be the winning approach.”
Silicon.com just leaked the plot line to the Chicken Little sequel.
I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got a lot of work to do here at Apple and a ton of great products to announce in the coming year.
Thanks for caring, have a great labour day weekend.
Sincerely,
Steve Jobs
CEO Apple Computers Inc.
Steve still looked very skinny and unhealthy I think. Scott Forstall was good and Schiller was and is absolutely great.
Ive did a great job and he would be a great guy in front of Apple.
Phil makes a great side kick.
No no no no no no no no no NO NO NO.
it cannot be scoot forstall because the man looks like a squirmy jobs-wannabe punk when he’s up there giving his presentation. it needs to be the psychotic french guy with the lazy eye OR jonathan ives.
phil is great for comedic relief and that’s about it. his time was over as soon as apple transitioned into intel processors and no longer marketed the ol ppc procs with ‘velocity engine’. plus phil you’re getting too fat, trim some of that butter, pal.
the only problem with ives is that he’s always locked in his dungeon designing stuff that apple would never release to the market! you know, the apple spaceship and the apple deathray gun.
he is an idiot
“Thanks for caring, have a great labour day weekend.”
Was that Steve or Guy Fawkes?
Remember, remember . . .
Jon Ive rules!
Crazymomma
I agree with you, they should have Schiller sit on his hands anytime he gives a presentation.
Watch that on a big screen and you’ll be bobbin’ and weavin’
Steve Jobs
An American does not put a “u” in Labor.