As has been the case for many years now, yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook welcomed everyone to the company’s uber-futuristic headquarters in Cupertino, California, to get the first look at the latest and greatest versions of what the company has to offer.

If you haven’t seen it, it is worth the time to watch. Here is a link you can click to do so. (And if you are really busy and pressed for time, the folks at The Verge have a streamlined version of all the key highlights available here.)

You have to hand it to the folks at Apple. The annual introduction of the new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods is a significant enough event that it gets covered as a major news story. And not just in the tech-oriented press. The instant impressions of the strengths and weaknesses of the new devices were being reported on as closely as the latest economic figures to come out of Washington.

And with good reason. No matter what the initial reviews might say, the fact is that Apple will likely sell millions of these devices around the world. The products are a global commodity and an economic engine of fundamental importance. They compete with similar offerings from Google and Samsung, as well as some Chinese electronics giants that you likely have never heard of. Even where iPhones are assembled has now become a significant concern, both for economic and political reasons.

Like it or not, the iPhone is a cultural touchstone. And it has been since it was first introduced by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on a darkened San Francisco stage some 18 years ago. What used to be a live, in-person presentation, where things could and occasionally did go wrong, became a recorded and highly polished video program during the COVID years. Apple has seen fit to keep it that way ever since. Being amongst those in the live audience back in the Jobs era, we have to admit that we miss watching the live presentations that were called “keynote” events back in the day. The software that Apple developed to support these big-screen tech demos lives on in Apple’s iPhones and Mac computers to this day, under the same name. Search for it on your device—or its App Store—and see.

So just what the heck do we mean when we say that local TV newscasts can learn from the annual event that rolls out the latest and greatest iPhones?

Consider the similarities between the two. Regardless of the time allotted (in Apple’s case, an hour and eleven minutes total), the program will be decently produced and fast-moving, featuring numerous talking heads delivering information that has likely appeared in many other places before being presented in this particular program. While mildly interesting, it won’t necessarily be earth-shattering or groundbreaking enough for most people to stop and take notice of it while it is happening, because, to put it plainly, it is just too predictable in its format—and in the information it is intended to deliver.

Since 2020, the format of Apple events has become formulaic. They are visually impressive to be sure, using all the video wizardry of a Hollywood movie. And sure, your local TV newscast might not feature all of the visual flash that the iPhone maker deploys, but most local TV newscasts deploy a wide range of technical wizardry. From giant video walls to now deploying augmented reality set-ups to feature meteorologists walking across 3D maps, there is no lack of “eye candy” in the daily recaps of news, weather, and sports on your local station.

Not if they are trying to stay competitive and attract as much of the ever-vanishing audience as possible.

There is also the extensive use of reasonably attractive and pleasant people who will be seen on-camera, delivering information ranging from an analysis of various specific details to merely cheerleading over how significant any particular development might be. There will be scenes from multiple locations, accompanied by busy on-screen displays of information that appear to convey a wealth of information. This will be delivered in a quickly paced package and wrapped up with a quick “thank you for joining us” closing.

Then may come the only significant difference between an Apple event and a local TV newscast. The local news anchors will tell you that they will be back in about four hours or so, while we get no idea from Apple when there will be a new announcement on the latest and greatest technical wizardry they will put on sale.

We’d suggest that what both productions are missing now is precisely what used to make them essential to watch: Something truly new and interesting. Whether it was seeing the latest tech marvel or even just the presenters themselves, the Apple events had bits of wonder, some funny moments of humanity, and a bit of anticipation in each edition. The showman aspect that the late Steve Jobs brought to the stage was a significant draw, even as everyone saw his health decline over his later years.

His signature final flourish was to say offhandedly, “Oh, and there’s one more thing...” before springing some surprise on the audience. It could be a new product or even a musical performance from a significant name to wrap everything up. Compare that to yesterday’s event, where the introduction of an impossibly thin new iPhone, dubbed the iPhone Air, was just in the middle of the rundown of all the latest iPhone models. Watching this, we couldn’t help but think of the number of times we have seen a truly amazing story in the midst of a local TV newscast--delivered with the same kind of lack of special showcasing as if to say, “Yeah, we have got just another news story for you now."

And we wonder why the audience feels like they don’t really have to watch the news anymore.

Could it be that both Apple and the channel-whatever-newsteam have become far too predictable and far less interesting than they used to be, despite their visually impressive appearances? We’d suggest that is a question that deserves some serious consideration.

And forgive us, but yes, we do have "one more thing" here:

All of the reactions we have seen so far on the super-svelte "iPhone Air" have been pretty dismissive of the device. Not enough battery, cameras, screen, or anything else are in that thinner-than-a Hershey chocolate bar sliver of recycled titanium. Some reviewers going so far as to recommend that people should not buy this new model. To that, we’ll say that if the iPhone Air starts popping up in the hands of celebrities and influencers, as you know it will, then Apple will sell a bunch of them.

Because, as Wallace Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, once put it so elegantly, “You can never be too rich or too thin."

It was true in the 1930s, and it is still the case today.

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