Why Apple, Google and other tech giants should end keynotes

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs
Apple Computer

• Apple cofounder Steve Jobs popularized the “tech
  keynote” back in the mid-80s, where he would walk on stage to a
  crowd of hundreds of fans to announce new gadgets, software,
  and technological developments.
• These days, most of the big tech companies hold
  similar-style keynotes, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft,
  Samsung, and even companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and
  Nvidia.
• Keynotes are not very efficient — they’re long, and
  usually lacking surprises given the abundance of leaks of major
  tech products.
• Tech companies would be better off retiring keynotes in
  favor of online debuts, where they can control the presentation
  and messaging — plus preserve some surprises — by making
  announcements directly to consumers via websites or
  videos.

Steve Jobs was famous for his “keynote” presentations.

For decades, starting in the mid-1980s all the way up to 2010,
hundreds of tech enthusiasts would cheer for Jobs as he walked on
stage to debut new gadgets and services in front of a large
screen. People treated him like a rock star, even though the
keynotes themselves consisted of little more than showing off a
PowerPoint presentation using Apple’s software, appropriately
named “Keynote.”

Indeed, Jobs’ presentations did feature a “rock star” quality
about them. No matter what he was there to talk about, he always
made Apple’s latest invention sound like something you couldn’t
live without. He made even smaller developments sound exciting
and world-changing.

These days, Jobs is no longer around, but countless imitators
have taken his place. Apple continues its keynote presentations,
which are held roughly two to three times a year, but plenty of
other tech companies do the same: Google, Microsoft, Facebook,
Samsung, and even companies like Huawei, Xiaomi, and Nvidia hold
similar keynote presentations throughout the year to debut new
products.

The thing is, the magic of the keynote has worn off.

Tech companies can’t keep a secret anymore

The first tech keynotes were held long before the internet came
along. So each presentation had an air of mystery about it: What
would be unveiled? How will it change our lives?

These days, that mystery no longer exists. Between the power and
pervasiveness of the internet, and the fact hundreds of thousands
of interested parties will pay significant sums of money to learn
even the smallest detail about the next iPhone, it usually means
tech keynotes get spoiled in one way or the other — many months
before they’re even held.

For years, we’ve known crucial details about the new iPhone long
before Apple holds its official keynote. We knew about Touch ID
in the iPhone 5S before it was introduced. We knew about the
iPhone 6 redesign months before it happened. And we knew almost
every single little detail about the iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone
X, and this year’s iPhone XS and XS Max, before those phones were
launched.

Google’s
Pixel 3 leaked countless times before Google’s official
keynote

XDA-Developers/dr.guru

It’s not just Apple, though. Samsung’s two biggest phones of
2018, the Galaxy S9 and Note 9, were known about months before
their debuts. And Google’s new Pixel 3 may have been the
most-leaked smartphone ever, with countless leaked images and
documents — and
even a physical sale of a pre-release phone — leading up to
its October unveiling.

The fact is, if you follow the news at all in 2018, it’s very
rare to witness a tech presentation that features legitimate
surprises. And if there are no surprises, what’s the point of the
presentation?

Keynotes should evolve into “online debuts”

If the goal of the keynote is to give tech companies control over
how they present their new products, there’s a better way to do
that than inviting people to a physical event space.

The internet offers powerful visual tools — and the fact is,
after every tech keynote ends, the company invites people to just
visit the website anyway to learn more.

Therein lies an opportunity: Tech companies should ditch the
physical keynote address, which has become old hat by now, and
debut their products directly on the internet.

There are a few reasons an online debut would be superior to a
tech keynote:

— An online debut gives the company more control over how
the new product is presented. With physical keynote
addresses, things can go wrong. Microphones can cut out,
executives can fumble over their lines, or the products might not
work at all! By debuting products online, companies could have
total control over how people learn about these new gadgets and
services for the first time.

— An online debut provides a greater element of
surprise. It’s nigh impossible to keep new gadgets a
secret before they’re debuted, but that’s because those products
have to make it to a physical event space — and the more people
that have exposure to those new products, the greater opportunity
there is for leaks. By launching new products online, tech
companies could retain the element of surprise; perhaps they
could unveil the new product while it’s still in its design stage
to get ahead of leaks that come out of the supply chain, when the
product has already reached the manufacturing stage.

— Keynotes are too long, and too boring, too often.
Showcasing new products online first gives people a chance to
learn about gadgets at their own pace. Unless
they’re fans or journalists, most people will not sit through
two-hour keynotes — even if it’s Apple or Google running the
show. Two hours is an extraordinary amount of time, but these
tech companies have lots of announcements to get
through. By going fully online, tech companies can summarize
announcements more easily, or provide more accessible ways to
learn about more details instead of sitting through a long
presentation.

Whether or not we’ll see tech companies move away from keynotes
is another issue entirely. Apple, for one, seems to love its
traditional keynotes, and it would be hard to imagine the company
ditching those without a major reaction from fans. But for the
most part, keynotes have become rote and tired, and should be
replaced by something more exciting and innovative. Tech
companies owe it to the people who spend countless hours
developing those new products to ensure a good first impression.