[forgottenpaswrd]

Good for a company if they don't need to spend in advertising. For me, in an ideal world word of mouth if the product is good should be enough.

Apple master the process of creating expectations and surprising people, in their staged announcements, good for them.

Why the hate? envy?

[ryanholiday]

It's not hate. If I ran Apple, I'd be doing the same thing. But JOURNALISTS are not supposed to carry water for business--let alone a multi-billion dollar corporation that could more than afford to get these messages out another way. What is Apple announcing at these events? New products they are selling. That's "news" under only the saddest of definitions.*

There are some great books written about this, namely Daniel Boorstin's The Image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_event

[wpietri]

Good for the company. Bad for people who think news hasn't been corrupted in the manner he describes.

In my case, the hate for things like this is that news has a purpose beyond enriching Apple's shareholders. In particular, an informed citizenry is vital to a healthy democracy. The constitution guarantees freedom of the press for a reason.