One More Thing: Please, Apple, No More Special Events

Except for World War II-era soldiers lost on desert islands and people who think Zunes are the height of cool, I don't have to tell anyone what special events Apple Special Media Events have turned into.

Tech writers are herded like sheep into a Bay Area venue, where they wait for Apple CEO Steve Jobs to bestow upon them some Clarke-ian magiclike scientific device. These events often end with a final tease from Jobs of "One more thing..." before he wows with a last, fantastic toy. Among the gifts handed down from the Infinite Loop Olympus: the amazing iPod and the revolutionary iPhone.

But as fabled as these Special Events have been, they are starting to become decidedly routine. A prime example is Tuesday's Apple "Let's Rock" Special Event that yielded ... not much of anything special: some new iPod Nanos that were most spectacular in that they did a 180-degree from last year's shortened form factor. A slightly updated iTunes music store that debuted an in-house version of the freakishly cool Pandora. And NBC Universal returning to the Apple fold after making a big show of pulling its content from iTunes in favor of the Hulu Web site that it co-owns with News Corp. and that you never heard of before.

And while all that is nifty if you happen to dig Apple products — just to let you know where I stand, I'm writing this on my MacBook Air — none of that is really stop-the-presses material. To the point, before the event Apple was doing some arm twisting with the tech media, trying to get them to "please" come with promises of something truly special to be revealed. I'm guessing more than a few tech writers are feeling a bit played.

The problems with Apple and its Special Events are multiple. Foremost is that Apple is a victim of its own success. Tiny digital media players with full-color screens and accelerometers might be light-years beyond the competition, but for MacAddicts such refreshes have become commonplace. If Apple isn't presenting something on beyond the iPhone, all else seems Dullsville. And Apple's fan base is so, well, fanatic, there are a bunch of Web sites more dedicated to vetting Apple rumors than John McCain was to vetting Sarah Palin. Pictures of the new iPod and specs for Version 8 of iTunes were on the Web days before the event. All of that kinda takes the surprise out of the surprise party.

But more than anything, I for one am becoming Special Event fatigued. After all, if every Apple event is special, how can any of them be unique? When Apple finally comes out with a tablet computer, by all means Special Event away. But in the meantime, I think an old-fashioned press release'll do fine.

One more thing... Considering the recent roll-out issues that Apple's had — the MobileMe fiasco and the iPhone that drops calls more often than [insert pop culture reference here] — I'll take an ordinary event with a product that works over another rushed Special Event any day.

Unless it's an ultraportable tablet. Then just give it to me buggy, and firmware me later.

4:18 PM ET | 09-10-2008 | permalink

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