I am not an iPhone fan or an Apple follower. But no
communication professional can ignore the massive global appeal that each
iPhone launch generates. The extent of coverage that it gets is beyond the
organizing capacity of any public relations agency or groups of marketing
communication professionals.
What Steve Jobs gave to the world is a must case study for every communication
expert to deliberate on 'how iPhone became a global brand with revenue surpassing
overall turnovers of tech companies like Microsoft or IBM'.
Globally or nationally (here in India), the Apple
event to launch the next iPhone is going to be trending event of the day. It is
already in the top run on many social media sites and a rage on different traditional
and online media platforms.
In less than an hour from now, Apple will launch,
as the reports say, and as has been the trend preceding this launch, iPhone 6S, new Apple TV and a 'big' iPad - probably.
There may be something else in the store as analysts
are expecting some surprise given the scale of the event this year - in an
auditorium that can accommodate 7000 people. As expected, the online Apple
store is down before the start of the launch event with its 'comeback' message.
Let's see how the launch event is trending on
Twitter, the global storehouse of #hashtags (and news and opinion) on any
ongoing breaking development.
Globally, in worldwide trends, the event with
hashtag #AppleEvent is trending at the top. Then there are two other 'iPhone tags'
are in top 10 - iOS 9 No. 5 and iPhone 6S at No. 6. #AppleEvent is also on top on
Twitter's US page. In United Kingdom trends, it is at No. 3. In Dubai, it is at
No. 2 - going by the trends written in English. In Japan, I could not
understand as all the trending topics were written in Japanese. In Germany, it
is at No. 2 but it is yet to come in top trends on Twitter's France page.
In Canada and Mexico, #AppleEvent is on top while in
Brazil, iPhone 6S is on top and iOS 9 is at No.3. Singapore has #AppleEvent at
the top while Malaysia has iPhone 6S which is No. 2 in Philippines.
In India too, the event is on top of the minds now
- if we go by Twitter. #AppleEvent was trending in top 10 but now, few minutes
before the launch event, it is trending at the top.
Almost similar trends are visible on Twitter pages
for trending events in different countries.
The fever has built up the aura, like it always happens. And
the wait for the millions of iPhone fans are just about to get over with the San
Francisco launch event going live in few minutes.
Featured Image Courtesy: Screenshot from Apple's
Website on September 9 Event