One Year

Monday, 7 June 2010

It’s a few short hours before the keynote, and what strikes me about this year’s WWDC isn’t any specific rumor or impending announcement. Not the iPhone HD. Not the never-before-seen features in OS 4. Not the new Apple TV. Not the update to Safari with an extension API and “Reader” mode.

What strikes me is this. One year ago I was in the same hotel waiting for the same keynote to the same conference. The iPad was a distant rumor, and Steve Jobs was on medical leave, two months out from a life-saving liver transplant. Now here we are, and the iPad is an amazing industry-changing smash hit (I’m writing these words using one), Apple’s market cap has surpassed Microsoft’s, and Steve Jobs is getting ready to take the stage, in his prime and at the top of his game.

It’s been one hell of a year.