New iPad launch: Tim Cook vs Steve Jobs

This was Tim Cook's first big product unveiling since Steve Jobs died last year. Yesterday's iPad unveiling was Apple's first big announcement since the death of Steve Jobs, whose legendary skills as a pitchman set the bar for product introductions.

How did CEO Tim Cook & Co do?
As others have pointed out, the presentation lacked the build-up and drama of a "Stevenote." Cook moved quickly through the update on Apple's recent accomplishments, and before we knew it, Eddy Cue had announced the Apple TV. Then product marketing chief Phil Schiller was on stage for the main event. But there was no big reveal of an actual iPad on stage, and no "one more thing" - a trademark of The Apple Show.

In fact, there was no substantial new information that hadn't already shown up in the press. The closest thing to a surprise was the decision to just call the new device the iPad, rather than the iPad 3 or iPad HD.

The pitch for the iPad was somewhat techier than the typical Stevenote - more about speeds and feeds, than the stuff needed to create a strong reality-distortion field. For longtime attendees of these events, yesterday's presentation may have hearkened back to when Apple was just a computer company selling to Mac fanatics.

Jobs had a genius for identifying a few product features - the clickwheel in the first iPod, or the multitouch screen on the iPhone, for example - and telling a story that simplifies and humanizes the technology. It was another dimension of the "less is more" philosophy that set Apple apart. The job yesterday was to convince the masses that the new retina screen is a "gotta-have" rather than a "wanna-have." We'll know soon how many people were convinced.

One couldn't help notice the increased use of videos during the show, as well. Jobs almost always included a few. But there were six yesterday, including one about the opening of the Grand Central store and another one about a new feature of the GarageBand music app called Jam Session. Apple may not have had this in mind, but it began to feel as if they were being used as a crutch. The reporters packing the Yerba Buena Center were there to hear from live executives, not watch videos.

None of these changes will threaten Apple's status as the best in tech when it comes to putting on a show. Presenters had no signs of jitters, there was plenty of humor, and enough reality distortion to elicit repeated outbursts of whoops and applause for particular features. The only noticeable glitch, if it even counts as one, was a brief delay as a movie clip came up during Eddy Cue's demo of the new Apple TV.

Over the long term, Apple's ability to generate the same enthusiasm without Jobs as emcee will matter. It's one thing to hawk the latest upgrade of an already phenomenally popular product such as the iPad, iPhone or iMac. It's quite another when the company needs to grab the world's attention and convince it to give some brand new thing a chance.

When Jobs unveiled the iMac, various iPods, the iPhone and the first iPad, each performance left attendees chomping to review or even line up to buy the new product. In Apple's Jobs-less era, maintaining that marketing magic may be one of the trickiest challenges the company faces.