AI总结
- 核心结论：科技公司的产品发布会已沦为一种高度同质化、缺乏真实感的“企业安全空间”表演，仪式感大于实际意义。
- 结构逻辑：
- 现象描述：指出苹果、谷歌等科技巨头以及企业软件公司通过全球大会建立产品路演的惯例。
- 功能分析：说明发布会作为沟通管道和内部期限驱动的合理性，但同时批判了其严重的“群体思维”。
- 表演解构：详细复盘了发布会的刻板剧本，包括特定的转场话术、去个人化的着装（无领带、休闲鞋）、夸张的手势以及虚假的“超兴奋”情绪。
- 深度反思：揭露了科技公司试图通过虚假共情和无意义的个人故事来塑造正常人形象的尴尬现实。
- 关键信息：
- 行业板块：消费电子、企业软件、人工智能。
- 公司：苹果、谷歌、英伟达、SAP、Oracle、Salesforce、Stripe。
- 核心现象：产品发布的“表演化”与“剧本化”。
- 问题与回应：
- 核心问题：现代科技产品发布会为何显得如此虚假且同质化？
- 文章回答：源于对“企业安全空间”的追求，导致一切经过过度排练，扼杀了真实性与个性，使其成为一种为了仪式感而进行的陈旧公式化创作。
正文
Create a slick, irony-free corporate safe space
Illustration: Paul Blow
In the past month, Apple has announced upgrades to Siri, its voice assistant; Google has unveiled new search agents that can carry out tasks on your behalf; and Nvidia has revealed a new chip for personal computers. Each outlined these plans, and many more, at their developer conferences. It’s not just the titans who turn product roadmaps into theatre. Any self-regarding enterprise tech firm will hold a global conference for its “community” (Sapphire for SAP, Oracle AI World and so on). The likes of Salesforce and Stripe run roadshows taking the message to international users.
These jamborees matter. Very occasionally, most obviously with the launch of the iPhone in 2007, they change the world. They provide investors, developers and users with information about a firm’s product pipeline. They set deadlines for internal teams: all firms could benefit from a few fixed dates in the calendar where they have to show what they have been up to. But for anyone who thinks that the tech industry suffers from groupthink, these events do not reassure. It doesn’t take long to see a slickly inauthentic formula.
Speakers hand off to each other by saying things like “And now here’s Kevin,” or “To tell you more about that, over to John.” A synth-laden electronic soundtrack, muzak for developers, will blast out while one person leaves the stage and the next person takes their place. (Apple does its launches on video; the camera will find Kevin, or John, lurking somewhere on its Cupertino campus.)
Kevin or John will be wearing an open-neck shirt, dark trousers and shoes with cushioned white soles. The only people who can wear sensible shoes on stage are customers from a boring industry like banking: their function is to show that regulated industries are clients, and it is important they look staid. No one can wear a tie. If you see someone wearing a tie, they are a security guard.
Kevin or John or whoever will stride into view, plant their feet apart and wait for the music to stop. They will look at the audience and, for reasons that are unclear, say: “Wow!” Then they will look at the autocue and start speaking. Every three seconds, they will raise their hands up from their sides and hold an imaginary cardboard box. To mix it up—they’re not robots!—they occasionally hold out their hands as though each contains a mango. Every two minutes they will move to one side of the stage, plant their feet and start doing the box or mango thing again.
No matter what Kevin or John is announcing, they will say they are “super-excited” about it. They might be telling the world that they have discovered a way to teleport, or revealing that a device is now available in a slightly different colour, but it will be impossible to tell from their monotonically rapturous delivery.
The product launch is a corporate safe space. Everything should be extremely rehearsed and come across that way. If a customer is invited on stage, sensible shoes or not, they will be asked things like “How excited are you by our partnership?” and “Why is your company so great?” There will be a demo desk on stage, where someone can apparently type without using their hands.
After announcing the latest breakthrough, Kevin or John will pause just long enough to make the audience think a reaction is expected. The lightest clapping, a susurration of applause, will begin. The autocue has not prepared Kevin or John for this, and they will stop in confusion. This will immediately silence the clapping.
Kevin or John will personalise new product features by drawing on examples of how they use technology in their own lives. These stories will usually involve cooking or buying someone a gift. The idea is to show how incredibly normal they are. The effect is somewhat different. Most people have families; technologists live with participants in an extended alpha test.
Irony will be everywhere but on stage. Kevin or John will demonstrate how easy it is to use technology to arrange a get-together with friends. They will talk about how unique humans are, how everyone on the planet has the potential to do extraordinary things, while never betraying any sense of individuality.
Kevin or John’s segment will end just as it began. They will say, “And now here’s Rohan,” or “Over to Mike,” and walk off the stage while the giant screen behind them does something vibrant and the muzak starts up again. Rohan or Mike will stride on, stand just where their predecessor did, and say: “Wow!”■
Subscribers to The Economist can sign up to our Opinion newsletter, which brings together the best of our leaders, columns, guest essays and reader correspondence.