SAN FRANCISCO — Three years ago Steve Jobs took the stage to introduce the iPhone here at Macworld. The presentation was one of the best in Jobs’ career, generating enormous buzz and expectation for the device.
Also important, fans could check out the device in person on the Macworld show floor (Well, kinda — there was a prototype in a glass case). It was obvious the iPhone was a big deal, and by the time it went on sale in June, there were lines around the block. Looking back, I think the success of the iPhone’s debut had a lot to do with the venue, and the audience it was introduced to.
Compare to the launch of the iPad, which was greeted by a massive geek backlash followed by shrugs and indifference from the general public.
True, the iPad doesn’t appear as new and revolutionary as the iPhone did in 2007; but it has the potential to be much more important. Nonetheless, most people don’t seem to get it. Almost all the mainstream consumers I’ve talked to since the iPad launch have the same question — why do I need it?
Steve Jobs blew the iPad launch by not doing it at Macworld. There’s not the same buzz about the iPad as there was about the iPhone, and that’s because it wasn’t introduced to 4,000 fans at a keynote. And it won’t be on the show floor for fans to check out (even in a glass case).
By introducing the iPad to the press at a small, exclusive journalist-only event, he alienated the audience he needed most — the general public. Steve Jobs kept the iPad’s potential users at arms length, and it’s costing him.
If Jobs had waited just two weeks and introduced the iPad here at the show, there would be more positive buzz and less of the puzzled, why-do-I-need-it? response.
Essential to the success of the device is that grassroots, fanboy support, which is missing for the iPad. I think it will materialize later, when the iPad goes on sale at the end of March and people can check it out at Apple’s stores.
But in the meantime, most people are indifferent, and that’s because Jobs withdrew to fortress Cupertino instead of engaging with his customers at Macworld.
