Federighi’s charisma nabs him the most stage time at WWDC14

Jun 4, 2014 09:14 GMT  ·  By
Federighi cracking another one of his jokes while talking about Apple's new Metal technology for graphics
   Federighi cracking another one of his jokes while talking about Apple's new Metal technology for graphics

With the passing of Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple lost not only a visionary but also one of its few people who could actually put on a show. But there’s a new rising star at the fruity company who has recently come out of the shadows as a good successor to the showman role. His name is Craig Federighi or, as his boss Tim Cook likes to call him, Superman.

Carrying pretty much the entire WWDC keynote presentation on his shoulders, Federighi took out an arsenal of dad jokes, made the usual self-jabs at his hair, and even poked fun at things like parallel computing and the naming scheme of Apple’s various OS X iterations.

At one point, he blurted out, “Check out that trash can! That is a gorgeous trash can,” referring to the new trash bin icon in OS X Yosemite. “You wouldn't believe how much time we spent crafting a trash can,” he riffed, to the crowd’s visible delight.

At times, the WWDC keynote really felt like a stand-up comedy show, making people forget that everyone was really there to talk software, which can sometimes be boring even for people in the software business.

“How about that parallel programming joke?” Federighi quipped during the show. “You did not see that coming.”

For years Apple has been missing an energizing figure to shift the focus from the actual presentation slides to the person conveying them. Creating short stories, even awkward ones – like the declined Mom call – makes it easy for the audience to connect to the presentation and therefore relate to the product further down the road. Federighi gets that, and now Apple has its new Steve Jobs to carry the keynotes.

That’s not to say Tim Cook is not the best guy for the CEO role or that Apple’s leadership requires change. Undoubtedly, when someone with Steve Jobs' influence leaves the scene, the management has to scramble to find replacements.

In Apple’s case, it took not one, but two people to carry on the legacy – an operational wizard to run the whole shebang and a software engineer entrenched in all things iOS and OS X, who can translate Apple’s software achievements in a language we can all understand. After all, that’s what Steve Jobs himself pursued when he married technology with the liberal arts.

If this article enticed you to check out the keynote presentation with your own eyes, visit the Apple Events site and watch it there. It’s also available on YouTube (embedded below).