A mishmash of marketing and public relations thoughts on Apple’s Spring Loaded event
Finally.
After a longer than expected wait, Apple’s Spring Loaded event took us through a whirlwind of product and service announcements, dizzying camera zooms around Apple Park, and Tim Cook’s Mission Impossible moment. The pre-produced, one-hour video moved fast, rivaled Hollywood’s best efforts for production quality, and sprinkled the usual magic marketing dust over some very cool—and pricey—new tech toys.
What can we learn from a marketing and public relations standpoint? Plenty!
Up first: the environment
Apple Events traditionally opened with business metric updates. That’s changing, however, as Dieter Bohn observed:
Starting with environment! I think this is the new vibe -- Apple used to always start with "the numbers" showing how popular its products are.
This isn’t performative virtue-signaling. Apple has set ambitious goals and reports its progress regularly. The company has taken on a huge operational and communications commitment, and has assumed a global leadership position on carbon emissions, resource consumption, and smarter chemistry—through words and actions.
No mention of iOS 14.5 and the new ATT feature
Facebook seemed to believe Apple would land a couple of haymakers yesterday in its ongoing spat over the app transparency feature coming in iOS 14.5. Mark Zuckerberg gave an interview to Casey Newton yesterday in which he said Facebook was fighting for the little guy, or something. Said Zuck:
I think that this is about enabling people. Right, so the question for me is, ‘Do you believe, at some basic level, that if you empower individuals that that leads to more good?
But Apple said nothing about iOS 14.5. Instead, a footnote in an event press release told us the update would be released the week of April 26.
While the event was a prime opportunity for Apple to restate its position on user privacy to a huge audience, it evidently didn’t want to pull the spotlight off of new products.
No mention of Apple’s position on the App Store
Ahead of a court date with Epic Games, Inc. about App Store policies—and a congressional hearing on big tech antitrust actions today—Apple paused its consistent drumbeat that its App Store policies 1) protect customers from scams and bad software and, 2) create enormous economic opportunity for developers.
Apple did share the spotlight with third-party developers in a smart way, using developer testimonials to highlight the processing power and associated third-party development opportunities of the new iPad Pros.
A RAM blitz on the iPad
No, not that kind of Ram blitz. This kind:
It's honestly wild that Apple put iPad RAM on the spec slide.
I know, Deiter! We are in new territory, here.
Apple hasn’t highlighted RAM in the iPad before, because iPads never had much RAM. Now, with 8GB and 16GB RAM configurations, iPad RAM is on par with Macbooks.
Hopefully, this means exciting things ahead for iOS15 and full-fledged apps on par with Mac applications (I’m looking at you, Zoom).
Music supports the colorful theme
Music is an important part of Apple Events (even if, occasionally, the attention is negative).
The event’s musical choices supported the spring colors theme:
“The Darkness That You Fear,” by The Chemical Brothers kicked off the event. (The song is brand new, and releases Friday. What a cool way to launch the song!)
“The Candyman,” by Aubrey Woods introduced the purple iPhone 12.
“Carrera,” by Brokenstra & YADAM accompanied us as we went underwater—what was that, anyway—to the secret Mac Lab bunker, I guess.
“Better in Color,” by Lizzo accompanied the introduction of the iMacs.
“Celeryjuice,” by Party Favor took us through the Tim Cook Mission Impossible scene. (Can’t quite get the image of Tim Cook peeling off a fake face out of my head. And I’m really trying.)
New AirTags, new antitrust accusations
No sooner did Apple announce the long-awaited AirTags than Tile, which makes a similar tracking product which uses Bluetooth, fired off a statement:
We welcome competition, as long as it is fair competition. Unfortunately, given Apple's well-documented history of using its platform advantage to unfairly limit competition for its products, we're skeptical. And given our prior history with Apple, we think it is entirely appropriate for Congress to take a closer look at Apple's business practices specific to its entry into this category.
Interesting that Tile makes no specific claims of antitrust violations here. Rather, Tile makes a vague reference to the past, and expresses concern about the future. Tile’s messaging will need to be more precise if it’s antitrust accusations are going to gain traction.
Apple’s position is that the Find My platform predates Tile, and third parties have integration capabilities with the platform. On April 7, Apple introduced the Chipolo One Spot, a third-party tracker that works similarly to AirTags on the Find My network. The announcement initially seemed oddly timed, in advance of Apple announcing its own first party tracker. But now it makes more sense now in the face of Tile’s accusations: the One Spot is evidence of a competitive, third-party product that integrates with Find My.
Tile’s messaging problem is similar to that of non-Apple headphone manufacturers. Their stuff can work with Apple’s platform, but won’t operate as seamlessly as Apple’s first-party offerings. That’s a tough case to make, whether in court, or the court of public opinion.
Secrets prevailed
Siri may have spilled the beans on the Spring Loaded event, but Apple still managed to unveil some surprises that no one in the media or leaker class saw coming:
The iPad getting the same M1 chip as the Mac
A updated (and still incredibly expensive!) Apple TV with a long-desired remote redesign
A redesigned podcast app and new podcast subscription service
A new software-based “Center Stage” feature to help address complaints about the front-facing camera position on the iPad
While some product releases leaked in advance, Apple still had plenty up its sleeve.
A jam-packed hour
On its biggest stage, Apple set aside its antitrust communications challenges and kept the spotlight firmly on a fast-moving and fun parade of new products and services. And that may be just what Apple needed as it gears up for some high-stakes battles ahead.