The Less Talked About Apple Product Launch

As you are reading this, I will be on my way to the Apple Fall event at Apple’s new campus, and more specifically the Steve Jobs theater. I was thinking about all the things Apple may announce at this event and all the ways I will slice and dice my analysis of the products. While much of my focus will be on the iPhone, Apple Watch, and anything else that may debut, the less talked about product that I plan on spending some time observing and thinking about is the Steve Jobs theatre itself.

Apple prides itself on being a customer experience company. And I expect nothing different from them as they thought about the experience their guests will have in the Steve Jobs theatre. Tomorrow will be the first time we enter the event using invite credentials from Apple Wallet/NFC terminals than simple badges that hang around our neck. Tomorrow is the first time we get a glimpse of the hospitality area Apple has us wait in before being seated. Tomorrow is the first time we see the layout of the theatre and the visibility and experience from many different seat angles. We will test many things in the Steve Jobs theatre, and I’m curious how much attention to detail was placed on this experience compared to others from Apple I’m used to.

This is the first time Apple has designed its venue to showcase its products at launch. I believe that Apple plans to hold all of their future events here, with the exception of WWDC due to audience size. With that in mind, I have to imagine they have thought through all the intricate details of the entry, hospitality, event logistics, and hands-on area where we can see and try the products after the event.

It may be weird to think about companies building this way, but given this is Apple, this is how I am approaching analyzing the experience being at the venue itself and not just the products we will be shown.

Steve Jobs had a vision for this campus and this theatre where we will all experience Apple events, and in many ways, this was the last major Apple product Steve had significant direct influence over. He would have wanted his guests to have a specific kind of experience which, hopefully, will only add to the overall experience of witnessing new products from Apple be announced and experienced first-hand after the event.

While most of my writing over the next f ew days will be on the announcements themselves, I want to revisit a recount of the experience of being in the Steve JObs theatre itself for the first time. I have high hopes, but we will have to see if Apple delivers on a fairly critical, yet less talked about part of the Apple event experience.

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Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin is a Principal Analyst and the head of primary research at Creative Strategies, Inc - An industry analysis, market intelligence and research firm located in Silicon Valley. His primary focus is consumer technology and market trend research and he is responsible for studying over 30 countries. Full Bio

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