reality distortion field
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Apple's reality distortion field has assumed Wall Street
Despite robust profits, strong revenue growth and excellent brand awareness, reports predicting the downfall of Apple continue to make headlines. This paradox has many people shaking their heads, but analyst Ben Bajarin has a theory as to why Apple is slipping on Wall Street, even though it remains a market leader. Bajarin, writing for Time, argues that Apple's much-talked-about Reality Distortion field is alive and kicking and has taken up residence at Wall Street. Apple is the most profitable company, can't make enough products to meet demand and is the most admired by its peers. Yet Wall Street and media fanatics are claiming Apple is doomed. The reality distortion field is in full effect. Apple, Bajarin argues, is in a better position than its competitors and will continue to thrive. You can read his full analysis and rosy predictions for Apple in his post on Time's Big Picture opinion column.
Conan O'Brien pokes fun at iPad 2
Conan O'Brien takes on the iPad 2 with an amusing parody that pokes fun at the slick video presentations that peppered Apple's iPad 2 announcement and its reality distortion field. The video is located after the break for your viewing pleasure. Just a note for iOS users, the clip is hosted on Conan's website so it may not be streamed in an iPad-friendly format. [Via Dvice]
Wired: Steve's six sneakiest statements
Steve Jobs' ability to enchant and persuade is often referred to as the "Reality Distortion Field." It's this power that convinces people who own 2 or 3 iPods that they need just one more. He's also made some convincing statements that his company later contradicted in grand fashion. Last week, Brian X. Chen compiled six of the biggies at Wired's Gadget Lab (reprinted at CNN), including one of our favorites: "There are no plans to make a tablet," Jobs once told Walt Mossberg. "It turns out people want keyboards ... We look at the tablet, and we think it is going to fail." Brian also listed Steve's insistence that Apple won't make a cell phone and that "...people don't read any more." Of course, part of Steve's purpose here is to misdirect market watchers, customers and competitors from his company's plans. But more than that, this speaks to Apple's incredible patience. Apple isn't usually the 1st to market. It didn't create the first digital music player. It certainly didn't create the first mobile phone and it didn't create the first tablet computer. The important thing is that Apple engineers took the time to devise the absolute best way to implement each of those devices. If that requires a bit of reality distortion, so be it.
The requisite announcement mashup
With every Apple event, we need someone to go in and edit together all of the reality distortion field generators, and this time, it's Neil Curtis, who has cut together most of the "amazing," "great," and "beautiful" adjectives from last week's keynote. Unfortunately, we don't have empirical data (anyone want to actually count up all of them?), but it sure seems to me like "great" and "gorgeous" had a big increase this time around, and "incredible" and "terrific" didn't show up quite so much as previous events. Also: no boom? Did we not get a single "boom" at all? It was a little more serene demonstration than usual, with Steve lounging on a chair to show off how comfy it is to browse the 'net on the iPad, but the A4 processor didn't inspire a single "boom"? That's disappointing. [via FSJ]
Found Footage: The reality distortion field, caught on video
Think Apple's products are "really great," "incredible," "amazing," "really easy" to use, "awesome," "terrific," "incredible," "great," and "amazing"? If so, it's probably because Apple told you that's what they were in last week's presentation. The above video's been making the rounds -- it's all of the adjectives cut out of the recent Apple event, and compiled together into a machine-gun lineup of just how Apple sets up their products. Now, just because these words kept showing up and being used doesn't mean there's some malicious brainwashing going on here -- it's probably true that Apple really does think that their products are "incredible," and "amazing," and "really great." And let's face it, they've never really been real up-to-date on the language anyway. They probably could use a thesaurus: maybe at the next event, the new MacBooks could be "marvelous," "extraordinary," or "glorious." But it does show you just how much we're shaped by what we see at these events -- Steve's and Apple's enthusiasm for these things is infectious. Apple's products really are amazing, but it doesn't hurt that most of us sit down to watch, read, or listen to an hour or two of them telling us just how "amazing," "incredible," and "really great" they are.
