Apple Live Events - visceral reactions from the past.
Most of us don’t get to see the Apple events live in person, but we used to get a feeling of what it was like to be there when we had true live events. In honor of the past, I wanted to share some of my most favorite moments from past live events. These are unscripted reactions from the crowd showing their true reaction, enthusiasm, and shocked surprise of what just went down.
It’s easy to reference the original iPhone launch, but that whole video had plenty of awe and reactivity that would be hard to capture today.
Here are three more recent reactions that really stuck in my head.
1. Apple introduces Microsoft to the stage for the iPad Pro.
Released all the way back in September 2015, the first iPad Pro was the beginning of the modern era of computing, blurring the lines of tablet and computing device. To highlight its much bigger 12.9-inch screen, Apple wanted to demo some productivity apps, and who knew productivity better than…Microsoft???
Microsoft and Apple were more ferocious competitors back then when Microsoft was in the smartphone game, so this was a huge surprise for the audience, and Phil Schiller and Kirk Koenigsbauer leaned into it really well. The audience was in silence until Phil broke it with a classic, “Yeah!” (that Microsoft!)
2. The screaming woman who really loves Dark Mode for iPhone.
Dark Mode for iOS was revealed in June 2019 at WWDC, the last truly live WWDC event. Right before Craig Federighi was about to demo Dark Mode on iOS and was walking towards the demo station, a lady just screams out of excitement with Craig acknowledging her enthusiasm. Small classic moment that got the audience laughing.
3. The bargain price and cheers of the Pro Display XDR gets spoiled by the $999 Pro Stand.
The Pro Display XDR is still a bargain compared to other reference monitors without a shadow of a doubt, and Apple’s presentation of it and it’s “bargain bin” pricing of $4999 was still palatable. What wasn’t that tasty though, was the price of the $999 Pro Stand, which flabbergasted the audience. You could hear the low rumbling chatter, throwing off John Ternus’ final words.