According to Apple, November 16 was to be a day I would never forget. Going over the day, it was mostly a typical Tuesday. While perfectly acceptable, as days go, it's not quite on the level of November 14, for example, and it has not really stood out in general. The reason they thought it would be a day nobody would forget it because it marked the day they finally sold the Beatles catalog on iTunes.
I say this as a fan of the Beatles overall, but that's hardly an announcement that puts the day in the books as one of the most unforgettable moments in history. The ability to buy albums which are - and some people might be depressed by this - all over 40 years old is far from a revolution. It's not even on the level of last years' box set, which at least brought with it remasters, new liner notes and a nice box to put it all in. The announcement isn't bad news, but it is a pretty minor foot note in the history of both the computer giant and the legendary band.
So why do I even bring it up? Well, here's the thing, if this announcement wasn't hyped as a mysterious day that you would never forget, it would have actually been a pretty good one. The Beatles are on board, some people who have never bought Revolver can do so on impulse at 2:00 a.m., and iTunes has another feather in its cap. Overall, a score for the online music store and another place to get the tracks for fans. It's a largely positive development.
Except, of course, it was hardly something unforgettable. Once the announcement that there was going to be an announcement was announced, speculation ran rampant about what it was. Would it be a subscription music service? That seems too pedestrian, it's going to be something that you can't even imagine! Even speaking as someone who isn't that fond of Apple products, I'll admit they can have products which can move the game pieces and have other companies scrambling to compete. It was actually possible that Apple could have a reveal that lived up to the promise.
In effect, they shot themselves in the foot by announcing an event which could never be close to what they were promising. That's the danger of hype, if something does not live up to it, it will appear to be much more of a disappointment than it would be under normal circumstances.
Apple is far from the only company to do this. Sony's Gran Turismo 5 has been days late and dollars high, and the developer has made many statements about wanting to make it perfect. Whether it is perfect or not nobody can say, last minute delays mean it's not actually out yet, and will not be until next week. However, constant delays and grand statements have seemingly lead people to believe it could only have every track and every car in the world. It doesn't, of course, which has caused some people to angrily cancel their order for the game. Yes, it has over 1,000 cars and a ton of tracks, but it doesn't have the specific thing the specific person wanted, so they question what had been done over development. Well, a lot, but the game they imagined it would be and the game it became are not the same thing, nor would they have been, so in their view it failed.
The moral of the story is simple, if you're going to build hype, the end result had better be amazing, or you risk turning a good thing into a disappointment.
