From the “It’s just a computer.” department comes this year’s Macworld Expo. This is the convention for which Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, gives the keynote address, and reveals the hottest new products to come from Apple in the coming year. Not having had any Apple products in the past, I never took any notice, but of course both of these things have now changed. What I didn’t realise is Jobs’ speech is the Mecca of Apple fandom.
Macworld posted an article in which the editor of Crazy Apple Rumors, John Moltz, described his experience at the Macworld Expo keynote address. This particular passage really put it into perspective for me:
Even if you get in, the mad rush to get down close and/or not to suffer the ignominy of getting shunted into an “overflow” room (read: “loser room”), where you watch Jobs on a screen instead of in the flesh. One woman even went so far as to strap a baby to her chest. Really. There was a woman there with a baby. For all I know, it wasn’t even hers!
As I laughed to myself and vowed I wasn’t going to let some baby get in my way of sitting up close, I noticed something odd. The baby didn’t have an Expo badge on. Who did this woman think she was? That’s two people and only one badge! The injustice of it all was driven home when a gentleman walked by with what appeared to be an assistance dog and the dog was wearing a badge.
Later, he comes back to the baby:
Yes! Surprisingly, the baby cried during the keynote! Who would have thought?! What with the loud music, the bright lights, the musky smell of 10,000 Apple enthusiasts…
I know he’s not exaggerating because I kept up with the news by reading the Unofficial Apple Weblog Macworld 2008 Keynote Liveblog. At 9:35, while Jobs was talking about movie rentals through the iTunes store, Michael Rose, the weblog author, noted:
There’s crying in the keynote — not from us, from a nearby baby. Poor kid doesn’t like movie rentals, apparently.
Only a fan who is too much of a fan, would subject an infant to such an environment.