Tickets for WWDC 2013, which takes place from June 10-14, went on sale this morning. Of course, they sold out immediately.
It's fair to assume that there's going to be a Tim Cook Keynote somewhere during the conference - there always has been a Keynote at WWDC in the past.
Even more to the point, Apple (and other analysts) seem to be coming to the same conclusion we did at AAAD a month or so ago: Apple Keynotes = excitement about the Apple brand.
And that excitement is a crucial element of Apple's mystique - which is crucial to justifying and maintaining Apple's remarkable profit margin.
On the earnings call, Tim Cook admitted that, if he could do it over again, Apple would not have announced the new "superflat" iMacs at the October "iPad Mini" Keynote.
There are two reasons for Mr. Cook's Monday Morning QBing - first and foremost, the new iMacs weren't ready to be shipped in quantities sufficient to meet demand. That led to some un-Apple-like wait times, and some unhappy customers.
But more to the point - the iPad Mini was sufficient to justify its own Keynote, and so was the new iMac.
Holding the New iMac introduction back until, say, March 2013, would have given Apple a legitimate reason to have a Q1 2013 Keynote.
It would have allowed Apple to avoid the unprecedented 8-month wait between Keynotes, and it would have given Apple fanatics (and analysts) something to discuss - something to get excited about - during the first six months of 2013.
I know we've discussed this point a few times before here at AAAD - but it bears repeating (especially now that other outlets have picked up and expanded upon this "Apple Needs a Keynote" theory).
Here's the chart that Business Insider posted on their story about the unprecedented 8-month wait between Keynotes -
It kind of puts things in stark relief, doesn't it? Apple hasn't kept its fans waiting this long.... really, ever. And Apple fans - and AAPL investors - need those reasons to get excited.
An iMac keynote would have fit right in there in early 2013. Missed opportunity, lesson learned.
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