Jan 6, 2009 01:06 AM
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Later today we'll see new Apple gear. Cultists know that Apple announces news then. But most don't realize why. So I poked around and found out the answer:
Apple news turns out to be just another practical left brain decision built entirely around the news cycle.
Travel: Journalists won't travel on Sundays, a non working day, for an event or presentation on Monday.
Weeklies: While a blog or website only needs moments to distribute the news, the longest lead time of any publication that can still be considered timely is the weekly. And the Print cycle for most weeklies is run such that Wednesday or Thursday is not always enough time for the weeklies to get the news in print.
Analysts: Analyst briefings are usually set the day before the news, minimizing time for info to leak out.
Set Up: The Apple event team has an extra last minute working day to set up their event.
It's PR 101: Apparently, most companies aim for Tuesday as an important day to break news for all the reasons above. It's just that most companies don't get noticed for this, because their news isn't received by millions of cultists.
I'm still not sure when this pattern started, but Woz said that the tradition started after his time at Apple, and if I had to guess, would keep going far after print news is gone. I mean, why mess with tradition?
[Thanks to the ex Apple PR folks, as well as Leander Kahney of Cult of Mac for this information (and Woz for being Fuzzy and Nice)]
Send an email to the author of this post at blam@gizmodo.com.
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