Why 9:41 Is the Official Time of Apple Product Photos

iPad timeEvery iteration of the iPhone's mockups showed the time as 9:42. The iPad showed it as 9:41. It's slightly peculiar--the times are grouped tightly enough to be intentional, but why those numbers? Why not 9:00? Network World investigated.

Turns out Apple's keynote organizers think about this stuff right down to the tiniest detail--and this is certainly one of the tinier details. They rehearse the presentation with Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, and whoever else will be speaking, and time it so the big announcement comes 40 minutes in. They add a couple minutes to be on the safe side.

That means that when Apple puts that most important slide up, the one introducing the new hardware, the time on the static image of the device will be damned close to the time the packed room of journalists sees it for the first time. It's just one more example of how carefully Apple prepares everything--that's a detail we didn't know about until a couple days ago, and they've been doing it for years, with no fanfare. Very cool, right?

via fastcompany.com

Now that really is something and an alarming attention to detail.

The Apple phenomenon

Originally posted at the Shufflegazine Blog

Even though this isn’t a psychology blog, it is always interesting to understand how we, as humans, react. And I’m referring particularly to technology. The reason for this train of thought is the hype and the reaction surrounding the release of Apple’s iPad last week.

Quite obviously, it’s hard to be upbeat about the name. I can understand Apple’s thought process – iPod, iPhone, so yeah: iPad. But they do have the iMac, so it isn’t just an i, P nomenclature.

Apple today has a unique fan following created by themselves. A set of classy, elite devices, in their own price and performance range, and a product lock, which tends to put some people off. Yet you find yourself in a publishing house, or even in management offices, and you will see over and over again, how Apple computers have found their way into the elite space. Most people that take the move towards Mac’s never look back. Apple customers may not be as large as the Microsoft customer base but they sure are way more loyal.

So what is it about Apple? Is it the classy, white/black, chic persona they give their devices? Is it the aura that comes with owning a Mac or an iPhone? Is it Steve Jobs? It’s probably a combination of all of these things and a bit more.

Last week’s release of the iPad marks another step in Apple’s revolution. Sure, there are a large number of folks were disappointed or feel that the iPad was all hype and no value. People said the same when the iPhone came out and look at it… today it has even become the choice of phone for the enterprise. Apple brought in the iPad because they felt that there was a gap between the smartphone and the laptop and iPad is a device that does combine features of both.

My points of concern? The camera. I’m really not sure how and why they didn’t put in something that obvious.

Consider, a tablet PC with video conferences, a 10in screen with 3G. It can easily become the portable device for the enterprise as well. The potential is there.

And Apple doesn’t go without putting some strong thought into their creative process. All the iPhone apps will run out of the box with the iPad. I think that was a well-thought out decision. The pricing is definitely a marker as well, considering most people expected a device of this calibre to start at $1,000.

Apple even launched their bookstore to go hand-in-hand with this. If Apple can cover a large range of books in a good range of languages – to the level that the iTunes and App store have reached today – people will adopt the iPad. Even if they’ll never want to call it that.