The Mix Tape, Vol. 87
Hi, I’m Matt Tillotson and this is The Mix Tape. Here is this week’s Mix:
Siri leaked the Apple “Spring Loaded” event ... was it an accident?
How Apple Event invites walk a communications tightrope
The best explanation of Facebook and Apple’s battle over iOS 14.5
Apple’s App Store messaging tries to put developers first
Daily vs. weekly newsletter publishing
Mind: blown
Siri leaked the Apple “Spring Loaded” event … but was it an accident?
Twitter and tech blogs were ablaze Tuesday morning with news that Siri was suddenly answering the question, “When is the next Apple event?” with a previously unannounced time and date.
A few hours later the official invite for Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event dropped.
Siri broke the news in advance. But is her new side hustle as an Apple leaker an accident, or a savvy comms move? Read more here.
How Apple Event invites walk a communications tightrope
The communication floats down from the digital mountaintop in the land of Cupertino, typically two or three times per year. The masses, eagerly awaiting the message, try to glean meaning from its sparse words and graphical flourishes. High priests offer interpretation, attempting to decipher what is being foretold.
Apple has to walk a delicate line between being clever and misleading with its event invites. Read more about how Apple does it here.
The best explanation of Facebook and Apple’s battle over iOS 14.5
Joanna Stern, personal tech columnist at the WSJ, is very good at her job. She is insightful and usually very creative in her approach to tech news and product reviews.
Stern's video clearly explains the viewpoints, business stakes, and regulatory stakes of Apple’s privacy battle with Facebook. And it’s pretty hilarious:
Apple’s App Store messaging tries to put developers first
Apple’s most pressing messaging challenges have little to do with driving product sales. iPhones, iPads, Macs, accessories, and services revenues are all thriving. Apple faces a more complex communications landscape as it navigates societal and governmental challenges.
What is Apple facing and what is its PR strategy? Read more here.
Daily vs. weekly newsletter publishing
Writing the new Notes on Baseball newsletter is fun. It’s helped reacquaint me with the game, and I’ve long been a fan of sportswriting—especially baseball writing.
I’m experimenting with the format, moving from daily publishing to Sundays. Some days I felt I was just pasting highlights of the previous day’s games. I never intended to assemble a newsletter version of SportsCenter, but the finished product felt that way to me at times.
Instead, I want to curate great baseball writing and share surprising insights and ideas about the game that I read during the week. We will see if a weekly format better facilitates that.
Love to have you if you’re interested, and you can sign up here.
Mind: blown
I had no idea.
Welcome to two new subscribers this week!
As always, thank you for reading and sharing.
Please hit reply if you have questions, comments, or open rebuttals. (Or just want to say hi.)