The State of Apple 2013: Quiet, Thoughtful And Serious

What a difference a year makes

At WWDC 2012, Apple CEO Tim Cook's keynote opened with a comedian. Her name was Siri. She warmed up the crowd with jokes about Samsung's new fridge, and speculation that the new flavors of Android OS were being dreamed up by Ben and Jerry's. It went on to feature the up-and-coming executive Scott Forstall loudly proclaiming how fantastic his new iOS 6 app — Apple Maps — was going to be.

The WWDC 2013 Cook keynote couldn't have been more different. It opened with a video devoted to Apple's design principles

"Designing something requires focus," it read over a quiet piano soundtrack. "It takes time. There are a thousand 'no's for every 'yes.'"