Apple's all-in-one HDTV future: a commentary on the "Just One More Thing...." special event

Regular readers know that I consider Steve Jobs to be probably one of the best presenters in business. I've finally viewed the 90-minute Steve Jobs presentation. Here are some quick comments about the the strategic content. I'll follow that by some comments about Job's mastery of the presentation form as well.

• The new iMac with Front Row foreshadows Apple's entry into all-in-one HDTV. Need a prototype for a where Apple is headed in the future? Look at the 20-inch iMac with the Front Row couch user interface and its Apple Remote, and then think of it built into a 42-inch or 50-inch plasma or LCD display. All they need is a cool packaging, some design work around how to integrate some other sources for the plasma, and you've got true flat-panel home theatre in a box. No one else has that. Don't expect it before 2006 (unless Jobs intends to tee it up in November for Black Friday), but this will be an entirely new category will have Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and everyone else scrambling to imitate. And better yet, it will get consumers into flat panel HDTV that never would have accepted the complexity of component home theater solutions (see Don Norman's essay on this problem if you don't think there's a market here)..


• Photobooth was way cooler than I thought. Apple took a really simple app to take your picture and made it amazing with built-in flash using the iMac display and special effects. This was clearly just a "delighter" product -- not necessary to the success of the new iMac -- but Jobs sold it as a key Apple difference, and I'm sure it will get more use than people think.


• Jobs shamelessly emphasized marketing. Most company execs don't like talking about how they will market their products. Jobs makes it a centerpiece of his presentations. He knows he has great creative, but he takes that creative one step farther by marketing it as an Apple product. In essence, he is advertising his advertising -- and getting additional awareness and buzz to boot!


• iTunes Just For You will drive new sales. Amazon has had collaborative filtering for years as a way to cut through the tyranny of too much on its store. Now Apple has the same feature for the two million songs and two thousand videos on iTunes. That's smart and good business.


• iTunes TV shows are going to be a huge driver of new Apple business. Disney CEO Bob Iger said that they were looking for opportunities to deliver "more content to more people in more places more often." You can bet every network wants that, and that every TV executive is now booking a flight to Cupertino. Why? Because the new day-after TV show revenue stream is just found money for existing investments. And I doubt a single one will wonder if they should be talking to Microsoft about this. Why? Because if they talk to Apple, they can get a revenue stream in a month or two. If they talk to Microsoft, it will take years for them to catch up with a similar offering. And with Apple's all-in-one-HDTV solution in the pipe for next year, there's huge opportunity for many more revenue streams in the future, including HDTV distribution without the costs of pressing DVDs.

But this content would have fallen flat if Jobs hadn't presented it persuasively and clearly. What I noticed when I watched the video is how much Jobs' presentation craft made the story work.

• Every important message was repeated word for word many times. Very few people notice how much repetition that Steve Jobs does in his presentations, but he makes almost every major point at least three times, using exactly the same words. Most presenters fear repeating themselves, but Jobs knows that this is how you emphasize and drive home ideas for listeners and does it consistently.


• Steve made the theme and three-act agenda create drama around his story. I really liked the way that Jobs immediately told everyone in the audience that he was going to cover three distinct topics. Just standard and great Steve Jobs presentation art. And it perfectly set up the real kicker "One more thing...." theme of the event, which was TV shows.


• The conclusion sold the major message of the event. Kudos for Jobs for not only recapping the major points, but taking time to tell the audience what all the announcements meant in an "Encore" segment. His "Buy it, watch it, bring it" story really tied all the announcements together and allowed the audience to reflect on the entire solution that Apple offered, and compare it to "Buy it, listen to it, bring it" story that Apple was previously telling. It was a terrific way to communicate the importance of what he was announcing, and to get everyone to think about the whole story and not just the parts.

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