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APPLE STILL SURFING THE WAVE FROM ORIGINAL 1984 SUPER BOWL TV ADVERT

By PETER T. BUSCH

T

he camera zooms in on Apple CEO Tim Cook outside the Apple Park Cupertino Spaceship campus. Then as Cook’s narrative falls away a series of product vignettes are shown at various locations involving Apple supporting characters.

So far so good, for the Big eTech product launch.

Cook seems exuberant but shows glimpses of panic as he knows very well that Apple sometimes has the same abysmal product launch failure rate as NASA. Apple has compensated for this problem by delaying the order date on new products and offering a much later delivery date.

I always think about Jeff Bridges in Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker (1988), when Tucker has a product launch of a new model car but he cannot get the thing started or stop leaking oil just a couple of minutes before the curtain is drawn in the showroom. 

Then of course, Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs in Steve Jobs (2015) cursing at Jeff Wozniak because he still hasn’t got LISA working even though Apple is about to promise the world a technological revolution.

Cape Kennedy, Detroit and Cupertino all have something in common today with Fremont where the Tesla factory is located. “Will the product be manufactured on time and perform as promised?”

Loyally branded Apple customers order anyway even though they know that only time will tell if the products match up to the exuberance exhibited at the Apple launches. 

With these product launch events, Apple controls the initial release information and thereby creates a few weeks of non-critical attention before and after the event date because the products are not available to be tested by the thousands of technology critics writing for popular eTech publications.

Apple also creates free advertising as people voluntarily tune in, like waiting for the next episode of a TV series following a cliff hanger. And media outlets cannot ignore the pull of millions of Apple customers wanting to know what Cook is offering up for the coming fiscal year.

Cook and Apple have continually reimagined the big surf created from the 1984 Orwellian advertisement for the first Macintosh 128 that was produced for Superbowl XVIII.

Apple’s lineup includes new products for participants in the outdoor adventure tourism workshops, as well as their California and Pacific Northwest support teams. I know this because Apple avoided the use of professional models for presenting their new products. Apple instead went a bit grunge chic with Cook signifying this motif by sporting trousers a bit too long as to be tailor made.

I also know this because Apple product presenters were cast from diverse racial backgrounds. And one presenter was a pregnant woman, personifying to hard fought for customers and employees the company’s support for families.

Apple did not unveil any new products, though.

The improvements to the existing product line, Apple Watch, Air Pods and iPhone were released instead. Apple Watch has entered Series 8, with a high end Ultra model. The Air Pods have been upgraded. And iPhone has hit year 14 with a booster upgrade.

Apple Watch has been programmed to help manage women’s health (thus the pregnant model).

The Series 8 watch as well as the iPhone 14 has also been equipped with emergency features and crash distress response signals befitting the high-octane clientele.

Apple will now tell you your all-important stride length, the data from which you can use to adjust your stride and thereby improve your overall runtime performance.

Apple Watch also has an SE version with the same core experience. The package is made of recyclable aluminum and recyclable materials.

Apple Watch Ultra has been designed for exploration adventure and endurance. The video presentation shows just how fanatical you must be to get the most out of the price tag for the Apple Watch Ultra. This Ultra price tag makes the price for the entry level Apple watch seem reasonable and almost irresistible.

Ultra has a 49mm case made of aerospace titanium. And a GPS tracking system has been installed in case you get lost in a snowstorm during your Everest ascent. (I am not joking.)

But now I feel as if I have been magically compelled by the big surf created from the event to help Apple sell the California lifestyle to non-Californians.

Cook is offering up suppliers to become carbon neutral, just as he offered up suppliers to join him in ‘Just in Time’ manufacturing. The Apple corporate officers have apparently already been made carbon neutral, and all in all, thereby simultaneously attaching Apple products with outdoor adventure and the outdoors person’s motto of preserving and protecting the environment they visit.

And regarding the iPhone 14, well “It’s the best we ever made.”

The iPhone 14 ‘Pro Plus Max(imus)’ has a 6.7-inch screen and a 5G connectivity never seen before in this galaxy.

A physical sim card no longer exists.

What really catches my attention is the dynamic island on the lock screen that features personalized widgets.

The 65% enlargement of the main camera and a respectable professional 48-megapixel image capture quality caught my eye as well.

I also appreciate the SOS service via satellite for those crazy stormy days snowboarding when the mountain lift company does not shut down the lifts soon enough.