It was a natural and mostly expected process. Disillusionment and boredom seeped into the mind, like that of a child's desiring another toy or something else to pull the eye.
Monotony seeded fatigue. Fatigue seeded disgust. And after the iPhone 10, in the sheep brewed a bubbly contempt. The wolves slowly shed their disguises, and stood from the throng of fluffy white, and the woolen backs would scatter finding fewer in their entourage to ascribe their shrinking list of beloved features.
The once bright bricks of innovation began to dull and harden, chipping from the slightest thwack. And most blamed the economy. Others, the leadership. Apple's press releases became monotonous and routine, few seats were warmed by the rumps of fill-in reporters.
But this time a hush covered not a small room as what gradually came, but an auditorium. A thick fog of silence smothered the throng of flashes as Tim Cook slowly walked onto the stage, his head slightly slumped over, and his eyes learning the ground as he moved, as if sadly reflecting upon previous lackluster conferences and disappointing releases. His doleful eyes shifted to the sea of heads throughout the blackness as the spotlight drowned his view ahead.
"Ladies and gentleman," he began softly. The sound of scattered coughs and the rustling of shifting waists filled the air with cautious apprehension. "We innovate. Somewhere along this path we lost our way."
The news were a lit with the same headlines. Apple CEO announces major breakthrough. Tim Cook bars employees from discussing next secret release.
Tim gracefully strode toward the podium where sat a plain white box that rose to his midsection. He opened the box and like Jobs used to say, he announced, "You're going to love this."
As he sifted through the large plain box of which its contents remained hidden from the audience's view, a string of rambling sentences were sputtered, but words clearly heard were Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Fresh new technology largely pushed by incumbents like Facebook, Samsung, HTC, Microsoft, and other giants.
"Ladies and gentleman," he said again. He pulled from the box an iPhone and an almost audible collective moan could be heard.
"I have so many new things to show you," he said as he underhanded the iPhone toward the floor in front of the audience. It came to a rest as the audience watched on in astonishment. He sifted deeper into the box and pulled out an Oculus Rift, to which the audience froze in anticipation, and to their shock, was also thrown to the floor in front of them. This time gasps were clearly heard throughout. Was the CEO having a meltdown?
A 360 camera. Tossed in front. The crowd gasped again once Microsoft's 2nd generation HoloLens was pulled. It hadn't been released publicly yet and rumor had it only 2 prototypes were built, both were for Bill Gates. How in the hell did he get hold of one? Tossed. One of the members sprung from his seat to retrieve its smashed pieces and eyed him from below the stage in perplexment. This is worth thousands!
Fiber cable box. Thrown. A flexible monitor. Tossed. Feedback devices, wearables, batteries, the whole gamut of electronic devices large and small began to pile in pieces in front of Tim. The crowd looked on in horror.
"Ah," he said peering deeply inside the box. He reached in so half his body was consumed before slowly emerging again to view.
He repeated again with his arms and head still surfacing, "Somewhere along this path we lost our way. But we've found our trail, once again."
When he stood tall he finally opened his palms to reveal his glasses that must have fallen into the box from his wild rant.