Apple and James Corden
The tech giant’s partnership with the nauseating comedian says more than you think.
Technology keynotes have become sexy. Steve Jobs made the technology keynote cool with his eccentric personality, not to mention the revolutionary technology he was sharing. Jobs had a way of exciting a crowd with a new technology and then making you realize why you needed that specific piece of technology. It was exciting, you never knew what to expect. Not only because Jobs was an amazing expositor of communication theory, but there was an amazing technology for Jobs to push behind his beliefs of communication theory in everyday life.
When Jobs passed away and Tim Cook became CEO there was obviously an incredible amount of anxiety in the Apple hemisphere. What was important to understand is that Tim Cook isn’t Steve Jobs, no kidding. But most people, including myself, expected the same level of fireworks and innovation from a Tim Cook led Apple. We wanted the unexpected and exciting from Cook just as Jobs gave us for so many years.
The obvious counterpoint, and the truest point, is that Cook isn’t Jobs. He has incredible strengths and weaknesses, just as Jobs did. Their different strengths and weaknesses were highlighted in both their keynote presentations at Apple Events over the years, but also how they carry themselves outside of the events.
Up to this point, Tim Cook has done an almost flawless job in my opinion. He hasn’t tried to fill Job’s shoes with a Steve Job’s personality. The technological advancements have been great, they aren’t Steve Jobs advancements, but we didn’t need them to be. He hasn’t tried to Trojan horse technological advancements with fluff, until recently.
Enter James Corden. Personally, I find the man’s late night absolutely brutal to the art of comedy. As someone who personally isn’t funny, I find his attempts at humor more painful than Ted Cruz’s attempt at showing affection towards family members.
Whenever I’ve voiced this opinion to anyone, the response is usually “have you seen his carpool karaoke?”. In which case I know the type of individual I’m dealing with and quickly change the topic.
James Corden’s carpool karaoke is a disgrace to those who worked hard to bring late night comedy to where it is today. The idea that bringing a celebrity in a car to sing with him is funny is incredible to me. I suppose he deserves props for making his show famous as a result of the highly viewed videos. If the point of comedy is to get views on a video, then bravo James Corden. You’ve won!
At Apple’s recent September event we were presented an opening video of James Corden and Tim Cook participating in Corden’s popular “Carpool Karaoke” series. The pairing seemed to be a short attempt at introducing Tim Cook and continuing Apple’s “cool” and “relevant” image.
Unfortunately, the Apple Event wasn’t the last time we would see Apple paired with James Corden. Apple released an ad featuring James Corden for Apple Music:
The ad itself made me want to pay for an Apple Music subscription, just so I could cancel it moments later. If James Corden properly identifies what Apple Music is in the pantheon of music streaming services, then it’s really no surprise that Spotify continues to overwhelm Apple Music’s subscription numbers.
Why Apple would tie one of its most important brands to James Corden is puzzling. The brand that for so long has been intricately planed and thought through, has crashed so much of its reputation in one, awful video. The Carpool Karaoke with Cook was forgivable. This ad could even be a momentary blip on an otherwise gorgeous ad campaign Apple usually puts out.
The only thing that is good about this Apple Music ad is the title. The only honest part is that this is the new Apple Music, and really the ad describes the new Apple. A company whose recent iOS 10 release highlighted the ability to send fireworks behind text messages as a pillar of the operating system’s new features. That is the same Apple that released the Apple Pencil years after Steve Jobs said that no one wanted a stylus.
Apple is chasing rather than innovating. It chased the smart watch, they’ve chased the idea of the tablet/laptop hybrid, they’ve chased the stylus, and now they’re chasing the messaging wars. Jobs set the expectation of radical innovation, and consumers are used to it.
If they’ve got nothing in the magical innovation hat, that’s fine. I would rather they highlight increased processor speeds and battery life. Design a more resilient smart phone to the adverse and treacherous conditions of the sidewalk, in which so many say goodbye to their device after it takes a tumble.
Apple doesn’t need to lower itself to James Corden’s comedic level. Don’t call lousy iMessage alterations innovation. The ability to send stickers or have a background of fireworks doesn’t make the experience any more fluid or change the way we communicate. You don’t need to change the way we communicate, you’ve already done that.
Don’t fool us into thinking that Nintendo bringing their amazing game to your platform should make us excited for your newest device. It’s all smoke and mirrors for what actually terrifies Apple, they’ve been behind the ball in the last few years.
The dumbing down of Apple’s definition of innovation hasn’t gone too far. There’s still time to change what continued innovation looks like moving forward. Don’t define technological innovation the same way James Corden defines good late night comedy. Doing so isn’t right to Steve’s legacy, and it isn’t fair to the millions of faithful consumers Apple has had for years.
If you’re listening Tim Cook, making iMessage “upgrades” the pillar of your operating system release doesn’t have to be your Carpool Karaoke. Stop the ridiculousness before you forfeit an almost flawless reputation.
