For several years now, Apple has been delivering its product launches in a distinctive style. Instead of speaking live onstage before an audience, it produces meticulously polished launch videos, perfected down to the last detail. NVIDIA—widely regarded as one of the world’s most cutting-edge companies today—takes the opposite approach, sticking to the traditional live-on-stage keynote. Which style comes out on top?
I’ll give away the answer right up front: the traditional live format, as practiced by NVIDIA, wins hands-down. The paradox is that Jensen Huang and NVIDIA seem to have inherited Steve Jobs’s presentation style. Huang is often likened to Apple’s founder—not only for the sweep of his vision but also for his unmistakable stage presence.
Apple, on the other hand, appears to be in a communications slump. It has abandoned live events. Its product launches are now pre-recorded, expertly directed films. Yes, they are extraordinarily professional. I know Hollywood’s best scriptwriters and cinematographers are involved. Yet … those majestically shot videos lack a sense of authenticity.
To let you compare both styles, I encourage you to watch excerpts from two recent keynotes:
Apple’s presentation from June 2025: https://www.youtube.com/live/X9cHONwKkn4?si=BxIH8DPk2saHvbDr
And NVIDIA’s presentation, also from June 2025: https://www.youtube.com/live/X9cHONwKkn4?si=SW3RreP3zO8NpcZ0
Here are a few reasons why true live events outshine pre-produced videos:
The presence of a live audience amplifies the product’s importance
When the crowd erupts at a spectacular announcement, their excitement spills over to anyone watching the stream. How can filmmakers replicate that in a pre-recorded piece? Only with flowery voice-over praise or soaring soundtrack music—devices rooted in film and TV convention, not genuine emotion. Little real awe is left.Small slip-ups create authenticity
Perfectionism kills authenticity—but Apple seems to have made flawless production its core mission: perfect design, perfect enunciation, perfect script, perfect set. And yet, behind that perfection lies nothing. A façade with no raw emotion. Meanwhile, when Huang steps on stage, plenty can go awry. In one keynote he even admitted, “That’s what happens when you do only one rehearsal.” Was it a faux pas? Absolutely not. It was a tiny crack in an otherwise brilliant façade, the sort of crack that reminds us real people—not actors—are up there. The stiff, rehearsed poses of Apple managers have about as much authenticity as the smiles in cheap stock photos. As viewers, we don’t buy it.Being anchored in the here and now
Watching an Apple video, we have no sense of when it was filmed. Two days ago? A week? A month? A live event, by contrast, signals that thousands of people traveled from around the world to hear one person speak on stage—right now. That creates the impression that the speaker’s words carry extra weight. The product launch isn’t just a reveal; it becomes a genuine event.
How long will Apple stay on this path? I dare say: as long as its leadership focuses on optimization rather than innovation. What Apple lacks most today are vision, courage, and creativity worthy of Steve Jobs—qualities that seem fully alive at NVIDIA right now.