“Apple’s pretty much annual October new product media event usually is preceded by a cute invitation sent to journalists. The invitation typically includes a phrase or graphic element that provides a vague clue to the secret agenda of the event,” Chris Maxcer writes for TechNewsWorld. “Presumably, this is to drum up excitement and speculation, in addition to creating an ah-ha moment when the audience understands the connection between the invitation and the actual announcement. This year, Apple’s hint is this: “It’s been way too long.” That is the worst teaser I’ve ever heard.”
“Consider the phrase: It’s been way too long since… what? Since we’ve seen you last? Since we partied like there was no tomorrow? Nah. In Apple Land, the connotation immediately turns to products and product announcements,” Maxcer writes. “Which then naturally turns to this: Which product hasn’t been updated in “way too long?” Which product has been neglected? Which product is in desperate need of a makeover?”
“It’s been way too long gives the speculation a negative spin, as if Apple has been neglecting a product rather than working feverishly on it and giving it the attention it deserves. Which other products have stagnated?,” Maxcer writes. “See how easy it is to consider Apple’s invite phrase in a negative light? I just used the word “stagnated,” which isn’t a word you want associated with your products — like say, the Mac mini, which has been largely ignored for two years. Or the iMac, which has gotten some touchups here and there, but no Retina displays.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There will be those who say “It’s been way too long” would have immediately died in Steve Jobs’ Trash.
Related article:
It’s official, Apple confirms October 16th special event: ‘It’s been way too long’ – October 8, 2014
Frankly, I like it. If you have a negative mind you can see disappointment everywhere. This guy must be a bag of misery.
Could not agree more!.
And whats up with mdn comment with this “Steve would have ….”
Garbage.. I thought we have grown past that bs .
I could use a lot of negative terms to describe the worth of this article from Chris Maxcer/TechNewsWorld.
The negative spin that he conjures up comes from negative people who would have found something negative to say, regardless. Give that type of person a glass of lemonade and he/she will complain because it isn’t lemons.
The fact is, Apple does not have to worry about this kind of negative drivel. It washes over and sluices off like water off of a duck’s back.
People wildly overanalyze anything and everything that Apple does. Apple is the Hollywood celebrity of consumer electronics. Anything that the company does, no matter how inconsequential, is sifted and mined for deep meaning and prophecy. In the end, you see what you want to see.
Sounds like this plagiarist read my comments yesterday on the matter except he left one very big aspect out which is that this therefore is highly unlikely in fact to be in regard to dimple upgrades which was the point I was making but this dumbo is too mentally challenged to comprehend. It almost certainly applies to the type of upgrade or lateral move that has been held up by factors that were not within Apples control or was at least waiting for technology to catch up with the concept in which case when presented will make it an excellent teaser. Clear a possible example of this would be Apple TV which could atain substantial new functionality that takes it to a whole new level finally into the vision SJ originally had for it but held up by programmers and rights holders. Equally an App Store for it would be a similar enhancement especially if helps it take on an expanded role as the home server to control Home electronics etc. it all plays on the in joke of the Apple TV being a hobby but I suppose it’s to much to expect a dumb tech hack to think laterally rather than literally etc.
Bullcrap!
The connotation is indeed, NEGATIVE.
As the author stated and MDN picked up on too much negative speculation is not good.
Get a grip, fanboys.
That said, we will endure the most negative Apple media invite in history and improved products, or “one more thing products” will certainly delight planet Earth.
As I say. If you have a negative …
Seriously? Another one of those FUD Starting BS on its way again.
What a waste of space. Don’t bother to read it.
Somebody woke up on the wrong side of his bed this morning.
I notice the Apple logo in the rainbow colors of the old Apple logo. Could that signal a return to console gaming, a la Pippin, which was released (and failed) back when Apple used the rainbow logo? Maybe as part of a new TV and a Game Store? Seeing as iOS has the new Metal APIs and iOS 7 introduced the game controller APIs, maybe Apple’s ready to take on Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft?
Gaming is a great guess, and more and more likely now that I think about it.
But my first thought was it is just a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact we just had a major event just 1 month ago.
Some of these guys are way more impressed with their personal opinions and writing skills than is warranted.
You may be on to something with the comment about the old logo colors.
Not so much about the gaming console, but maybe a return to the six-color logo or a variant thereof? Perhaps an outline logo, like in the teaser, but made of different colors.
I still keep a batch of six-color Kool-Aid in the refrigerator…
I thought maybe it’s referring to Apple TV. Maybe they’ll finally launch it properly with a subscription service.
Or maybe it’s referring to putting out colorful devices again. This silver, white, space gray thing is just as bad as beige PC boxes.
Or maybe someone who has been away is returning. Woz? Doubful. I can’t imagine there’s a role for him there.
Maybe it refers to the length of the iPad line and Apple is getting rid of the home button and the extra space at the top, resulting in an iPad that is almost nothing but the screen?
I would suggest that it relates to Apple TV and the “way too long” refers to how long TVs have been awkward to operate. The new Apple TV is going to bring TVs into the 21st century.
Slow news day.
Slow comment day.
“Way too long”, something a woman has never said to me.
Do I win?
Apparently not…
His cup is half empty……..
And his mind is half-full.
Must be a slow tech news day.
It’s been way too long that we’ve had cable subscriptions.
The Apple TV cometh!
…that’s all I can think of!
The “hobby” is no longer a hobby?
IDK
Yep, you nailed it!
Fingers crossed.
Seriously? It’s a joke. We just had a huge event where Tim Cook at least felt they made some major announcements. And now only a month or so later they are sending another invite? It’s tongue in cheek remark about how badass Apple is this year that they need multiple successive events just to announce all the great stuff they’ve been working on.
Sure as a double meaning it could mean the revamping of some hardware, but is that a bad thing? Apple gets bitched about for releasing new versions too soon as well. They can’t do anything about a certain sector of the population. Bring out every announcement ever put out and I’ll give you a negative spin on them all.
I agree with the double-meaning interpretation.
Welcome back Newton!
Thankfully, thankfully, thankfully, we have the successor to the Newton! It can only get better from here….
The multi color Apple signifies that they’ll be releasing the Classic III.
When I read, “It’s been too long”, I immediately thought that the end of the world was coming and that Apple was about to go out of business or worse. It was like a sense of Doom that I could not shake.
How Dumb is this? There are slow news days – and then there are just idiots that need to go back to eating Cronuts and diet soda.
Overreaction?
It could be something to do with iPod line as well. That hasn’t seen a refresh in awhile.
An iPod touch the size of a 6 Plus – BOOM
Roger that, and in colours
This one is easy to guess for me. ATV will be updated and include developer API’s to unleash it’s real potential. Until now ATV has been in a holding pattern while apple has tried to bring content through negotiations. The wait is over even though the content has not fully arrived in the manor apple has hoped for..
Apple TV and iPhone were both first introduced in 2007. Presumably the reason its been way too long for the Apple TV to be a hit instead of a hobby, was because of hobbled content negotiations. (NFL when?)
Just a guess that the ‘way too long’ reference is an oblique nod to TV.
Gene Munster vindicated?!
Oblique nod indeed! You know how artists are. Look at the “between the lines” negative space in the invitation. I see that a stylized left leaning ‘T’ can be placed in there and to the upper right a ‘V’ is suggested. So AppleTV it is!
Insightful observation. Fingers crossed the REAL APPLE TV is announced.
Immediately after looking at that special event invitation logo, my first thought was that it looked like a finger over a flexible surface…hmmm…
It’s the tip of the Apple stem that sits atop the Apple in the Apple logo.
Oh yeah, LOL…thanks @breeze, I thought I was onto something there. 🙂
Interesting take.
I think is just a nod, (sarcastic joke) because it’s only been a few weeks since they where invited 😁
How about a new take on the iMac – how long has it been that the “big chinned” form of the all in one has been around? Maybe the new iMacs will look a lot more like a giant iPad, with very little bezel. Maybe it’s been too long since Apple delivered a new form for the iMac?
Reading the speculation, I mean “article”, above … I thought of the AppleTV. Maybe it’s been too long for the AppleTV to be a “hobby”, and it’s time it dominated the entertainment center.
It can’t be too long since I bought an iPad … seems like just a year ago I did that.
I am with you on the Apple TV given its been way too long it been considered a hobby.
This might not be referring to product refreshes, either recently like iPad/iMac or longer due like ATV/MacMini.
Although we’ll likely see at least some of that, the “way too long” line might just refer to ressurecting the original product name Macintosh, and dumping the name iMac after 15 yrs. of course thus would combined with a refresh of the all-in-one desktop line.
It would make some sense. As we saw on 9/9, they’re obviously moving away from the “i” designation for product names…after all these yrs it’s become a parody of itself.
It could be Apple T.V. , but it’s more likely to be the Mac Mini.
It also could be a Retina 17 inch MacBook Pro. If it’s the Mac Mini, it’ll be interesting to see the new one, especially since they’ve already taken out the dedicated graphics card.
They’ve been using Intel processors for way too long
I wrote this in the October 16th announcement comments.
“Has anyone noticed that THAT is the top of an APPLE.
A COLORFUL APPLE when for years the Apple logo has been monochrome….!!”
I think it regards to the newly designed MacBook Air since its design hasn’t changed since its debut.