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Stage Your

Presentation

with Props

Jobs has turned his keynote speeches at Macworld

into massive media events. They are marketing

theater, staged for the world’s press.

LEANDER KAHNEY

I

ndustry observers credit Apple for redefining notebook com-

puter design with its MacBook family of computers unveiled

on October 14, 2008. As described in the preceding chapter,

Jobs had solicited Apple designer Jony Ive to explain the pro-

cess of making the computer. The new MacBooks were built

with a frame (unibody enclosure) crafted from a single block

of aluminum. It doesn’t sound impressive, but it represented a

feat of engineering that produced thinner, lighter, more rug-

ged notebooks that looked a lot cooler than their predecessors.

About twenty-five minutes into the October presentation, Jobs

discussed the new aluminum frame. He could have talked about

it and perhaps shown a photograph or two, but Jobs being Jobs,

he went above and beyond. He turned the presentation into

a kinesthetic experience, letting the audience of analysts and

reporters see and touch the frame for themselves.

“This is what the unibody looks like. It’s especially beauti-

ful,” Jobs said as he held up a sample frame.