In what has become a yearly event, our evil overlords at Apple have announced another new product, the iPhone X. And, as is the new trend, people are either happy, angry, or nihilistically posting memes about the announcement. In celebration of the giant tech company we simply can’t ignore, let’s take a look at iPhone unveilings throughout the years.
Watching the very first iPhone unveiling, they treated it like some kind of mystical event. Steve Jobs explained that he had been waiting for this unveiling for years and even gave a short history of major Apple unveilings, such as 1984’s release of the Macintosh and the 2001 release of the original iPod. He said they were announcing three products: a widescreen iPod, a mobile phone, and a device for online communication, before unveiling the iPhone, which is all three. Well played, Jobs.
Apple iPhone XThe announcement was simply fantastic, with humor peppered in, great buildup, and thunderous applause. Cut to one year later, where Jobs introduced the iPhone 3G. After giving a short spiel on the iPhone’s first birthday, Jobs continued with the unveiling. The hype train definitely continued from one year to the next, even though, if we’re being honest, it’s tough to top the unveiling of a device that would change tech forever. However, it did cement the iPhone announcement as a yearly event of sweet, sweet materialism.
By the time Steve Jobs’ final keynote came around in 2011, the iPhone hype train was at full speed. Like an episode of a late night show, the applause bled right into the beginning of his speech. While his announcements weren’t anything outstanding (focusing on iCloud and new iOS features), this may have been the peak of Apple’s positive hype.
Jumping to the next year, the first with Tim Cook as CEO, you can definitely feel a different vibe. While Jobs had a certain energy and humor throughout each presentation, Cook definitely seemed a bit more reserved, something he grew into more as the years went on.
However, not long after this the backlash would begin. Not so much during the actual event, as I’m pretty sure rabid Apple fans would tear apart anyone that would question the divine knowledge of the company. Rather, this could be felt in the response online. A perfect example of this is 2014, in which the company announced that a U2 album would be automatically downloaded along with the iPhone 6. Remember when that was the biggest thing people had to be worried about?
This backlash has in itself become an almost yearly event. Just look at the iPhone 7 announcement last year, where people questioned the removal of the headphone jack, seeing it as a bit of a cash grab, which, come on, it kind of was. And now we have the iPhone X announcement, the latest that has prompted mixed feelings from longtime iPhone fans due to its high price and superfluous technology. But let’s be honest, people are going to forget about that quickly and buy it anyways.
Apple will keep making iPhones and creating hype as long as the company is profitable, which will probably be forever. However, this recent trend of immediate backlash has added an entirely new layer to the hype train, truly meaning that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
