NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- When I worked in Dallas sports radio, we lived by a couple mantras that, as far as I know, still stand: All Cowboys, All The Time and the painfully straightforward Cowboys, Cowboys, Cowboys.
It's called playing the hits, buddy. Top 40 radio -- which still works as a concept -- was founded on the same principles. Give the people what they want when they want it. Back in the 1950s, a guy named Todd Storz invented the Top 40 format in Omaha, Neb. Storz observed that a small collection of songs received the best response from listeners. These were the same tracks that played over and over again on the jukebox at the local bar. He figured it made sense to program radio stations based on these observations. So, yeah, play the hits, whether that's Cowboys talk on the radio in DFW or the latest from Taylor Swift on FM stations across the nation. Same drill here at TheStreet vis-a-vis Apple ( AAPL). Also at CNBC. When they call, it's -- more often than not -- to discuss Apple. I went on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" yesterday (see the video on Page Two). And Carl Quintanilla got it right -- I'm "seething" over what's been happening with Apple, company and stock, lately. If it weren't for the persistent joy and frequent rushes I get from doing my job, I probably would lock myself in a dark room and listen to Morrissey tunes or maybe Springsteen's "Nebraska" all day. It's flat depressing -- the way the media and investors treat Apple. But, as maddening as it all might be, none of this should surprise you. Everything that has happened comes down to two easy-to-understand phenomena. No. 1: We've been over this together more than once: Steve Jobs is dead. Subsequently, there's a crisis of confidence. Not at Apple, but in the media and among investors. Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. He's not Jeff Bezos either. The market simply will not give Apple the benefit of the doubt it does Amazon.com ( AMZN). In some respects, that's fair. It's something I was writing about a year ago. Tim Cook can put a stop to all of this nonsense by releasing something big ... soon. No. 2: It's closely related to Number 1. This is how memes work. A bunch of people start saying variations of the same thing repeatedly -- Apple is not cool anymore. Apple can no longer innovate. Apple doesn't make revolutionary products; only evolutionary. Repeat this stuff on television and the Internet and people come to believe it as fact. Then "reports" flow that "confirm" the meme. We received another yesterday: Apple might make an iPad with 128GB of storage. We're hearing about smaller iPhones, bigger iPhones and multi-color iPhones and iPads. It all fits with the tech geek/financial media circle (insert word that can come before chicken on a menu here) we're in the middle of right now. All of this reaffirms the madness and makes the critics look good ... for now. See? Look. We told you. Evolution, but no more revolution. But, remember ... these rumors do not come from Apple. Apple doesn't start memes. Most people got iPad mini wrong. It's not cheap in any way. And Apple couldn't keep them in stock during the holiday quarter. Simply put, all of the crap you heard leading up to that release was, by and large, just that -- crap. Yesterday, something newish actually came from Apple itself. The main feature in its iOS update, as TheStreet's Chris Ciaccia noted, is a key advancement with Siri. You can now use Siri to order movie tickets. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is. It's the evolution of something revolutionary. Siri is revolutionary in that it's one of the first widely-accessible personal assistant platforms. Lots of people have iPhones; therefore lots of people have Siri. Apple was smart to release Siri with the 'Beta' tag next to it. Debuting Siri in Beta was smart. Apple gave Siri breathing room to evolve, but also snagged meaningful first mover advantage. So, as Ciaccia indicated, Siri continues to morph from a fun toy for search and basic commands to a versatile and all-around useful personal assistant. A couple of key thoughts on the progression of Siri:
- Don't be surprised if Siri -- or Siri-based technology -- has more to do with Apple's living room plans (assuming they really have these plans) than we commonly think.
- If, over the course of 2013, Siri transforms into something special, Google (GOOG) Glass could end up dead on arrival (if this overhyped toy actually does arrive). Google Glass is a gimmick. Pure and simple. You already have useful technology in your pocket -- a phone, which is something you "need" these days anyway. Siri on an iPhone will, for all intents and purposes, do everything Google's little headset can do (Yes, I have seen the video and the picture on the subway). As such, there's no need to walk around with a pair of glasses you really don't need hanging just below your brow.
