We shouldn't blame Apple, we should blame ourselves

At 10 am EST you could hear the moans of disappointment across the internet.  People were outraged because Apple's major iTunes announcement was that The Beatles entire song catalog was now available on iTunes.  There was no announcement of iTunes Live Streaming, no cloud storage solution, no canceling of Ping, and no redesign on the hated iTunes 10 logo.  But I am here to tell you that the only people we can blame for this disappointment is ourselves.  Read on to find out why.




There were tell tale signs that this announcement was nothing major:

1. This was an online only announcement with no keynote from Jobs.
2. The announcement was at 10 am EST, instead of 10 am PST.
3. There was no major uptick in rumors the days before.

Apple would never announce something major like streaming or cloud storage without holding a keynote event.  They would need to walk through the features of those services to convince everyone that they have to have it.  That is just what Apple does when they announce major new products or services.

While having The Beatles entire music catalog available in iTunes is a big deal, it is nothing major for Apple.  Many people will point out that Apple hyped the event by sending out invites for the online event with the tag-line "A Day to Remember." But Apple also sent out a clear message by holding the event in the manner that they did, and we just let out anticipation get the best of us.

Now I admit I am guilty of doing this before any major announcement from Apple.  I think it stems form the original iPhone reveal and how much of an impact that announcement had and how it blew away my expectations.  But since Apple set that bar so high, I now have unrealistic expectations for every event that Apple holds.

We all like to speculate before major events on what the rumors are and what might be revealed.  But we get so caught up in our own speculation and anticipation that we ignore the facts that are right in front of us.

Next time we should all try to keep our expectations in check and look at the facts.  That way we can enjoy what is actually announced instead of pine over what wasn't.  Now go ahead and download your favorite Beatles song from iTunes to cheer you up about the fact that you still have to download it instead of streaming it directly from iTunes.