Welcome to our Apple Weekend Breakfast column, featuring all the Apple news you missed this week in a handy bite-sized recap. We call it Apple Breakfast because we love it with a cup of coffee or tea in the morning, but it’s also cool if you want to read it over lunch or dinner.
Why wouldn’t Apple hold an event in October?
Like the Chicago Daily Tribune When DEWEY BEATS TRUMAN was on the front page in 1948, the modern tech writer constantly runs the risk of being fooled by unfolding events. So I ask the sympathetic reader not to judge the following words too harshly if Apple, in its usual annoying way, decides to send out event invites sometime next week.
As you read this, however, no such invitations have arrived, and now that half of the month is over, the time is running out for an October event. (Invitations normally go out about a week before the event, which means we’re at least looking at something significantly later than the October 18 and October 13 events that Apple has held over the past two years.) And if Apple isn’t holding an event in October, it probably is for the year.
If 2022 ends without further Apple events, we can’t say we weren’t warned. Late last month, widely respected leaker analyst Mark Gurman prepared the tech world for disappointment by predicting that Apple was “more likely to release its remaining 2022 products via press releases” simply because they weren’t exciting enough.
“None of these new products are a major starting point for Apple,” he explains. “That makes me think: does Apple really have enough here to make it worth putting together another highly polished launch event?”
There is a certain logic to this line of reasoning, and it is possible that Tim Cook has opted out of an October event for these very reasons. But I wonder if a boring event is worse than no event at all.
The first point to make is that Apple’s events today don’t (necessarily) require the massive logistics operations of the past few years. Since the start of the pandemic, the company has shown it is adept at virtual events, and many of us even prefer it. Organizing a virtual event is certainly not effortless – just look at the high production values of the videos, which take time and money to make – but you don’t have to fly journalists and partners around the world, or mobilize enough catering to to feed a small village. It is a company with relatively few resources.
And what do you get in exchange for that relatively modest expense? Publicity. eyeballs. fuss. Anticipation. The opportunity to stand on stage with the tech world watching and introducing your products exactly the way you want. Apple has the best marketing operation in the world. But it still needs a platform.
So the new Macs and iPads may not be a groundbreaking step forward. But they are still important and Apple still has to sell them. The best way to do that is to grab the customer’s attention and do your best elevator pitch, not hide it in a press release. There must be something interesting about the new products, so focus on that. Tell us about the progress of macOS Ventura. Give us a taste of the next Mac Pro. It’s your meeting, Tim. Grab the microphone.
After all, what’s the worst that could happen if it’s less exciting than the iPhone’s launch? Maybe more people than usual turn off the stream before the end. (Although the ever-present prospect of a One More Thing makes that highly unlikely.) There may be some unkind memes on Twitter. (That will happen anyway.) Perhaps there is a moderate rather than a huge spike in purchases. (The holidays will erase all that.) All of these worst-case scenarios are better than the alternate universe where no event occurs at all.
I can only think of one consequence to worry about and that is losing your audience in the long run. If you’re the boy who wolf howls, and the wolf turns out to be a minor iterative upgrade from the previous wolf, maybe the villagers won’t listen next time.
It is possible to imagine a world where this happens, but then we have to talk about really elite levels of boredom. Because Apple’s audience is remarkably enduring, and between you and me, it’s had a lot of boring events in the past. Last year’s iPhone launch wasn’t exactly a downer. In 2020, the company held an astonishing three events in the fall, and we saw no evidence that the reader’s attention was lost. Google the phrase “boring Apple event” and you’ll see how many times the company has been considered boring in the past, without noticeably losing its relevance.
No, this seems to me to be another case of all the pros, no cons. I’ve argued in the past that Apple should host significantly more events, not less, and this fall is a prime example. Come on Apple, announce an October event!
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The rumor mill
With a roar, or with a whisper? The way Apple’s October products arrive will say a lot about how important they are.
Now that beta 11 is out, the launch of macOS Ventura could be forthcoming. Here’s how to prepare your Mac for the new operating system.
Podcast of the week
The Lightning era on the iPhone is coming to an end, but is replacing it a better option? we talk about USB-C and Apple’s future with the connector in this episode of the Macworld Podcast.
You can watch every episode of the Macworld Podcast on Spotify, Soundcloud, the Podcasts app or our own site.
Software updates, bugs and issues
Facebook has warned iPhone users to remove 50 ‘malicious’ apps that may… stolen password data.
If you’re on a roller coaster, you might want to switch off Crash Detection.
And with that, we’re done for this week. If you would like to receive regular round-ups, sign up for our newsletters. You can also follow us on Twitter for breaking news stories. See you next Saturday, enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay Appley.
