If you have followed yesterday’s Apple keynote presentation of the new Macbooks (if not, watch it here) you have noticed that Steve Jobs one-man-show was replaced with a balanced, all planned, three-man-show with Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Jonathan “Jony” Ive. Cook (Apple’s COO) and Ive (Senior VP of Design) are well known as vital parts of the new Apple that was reborn when Jobs came back to the company in ‘97, but have seldom had media exposition and accepted to live on iSteve’s shadow.

But this is changing! Unless Steve Jobs is virtualized ala Max Headroom, he will leave the stage and retire someday. Some say he’s sick (none of my business, though he did look rather thin and less charged that usual) and it will happen sooner while others say he’ll stay as head and showman for at least an extra decade. In any case, he will move on sooner or later and that empty space will be cumbersome and difficult to fill up. Besides, the fluffy financial market speculations on him staying as Commander-in-Chief is one of the many factors making Apple’s stock (APPL) travel up and down.

Yesterday I saw a clear marketing plan in action to:

1) present two important Apple Generals to the wider public (it is rumored that Tim Cook might become the new CEO when Steve Jobs decides to retire). Rarely have Cook or Ive given interviews or talked about Apple in public and

2) introduce them as speakers for future keynotes, in order to make the transition smoother and preparing them to meet bigger audiences in future events.

It is clear that the whole keynote was carefully studied, as they always do. I guess that even the clothes they were wearing weren’t left to chance (in particular Cook’s, almost mimicking his boss’ style). Cook and Ive appeared a bit stiff as this is not their usual environment, but it is normal and they played in this “minor” event at home in order to reduce the first impact. By letting his teammates share some of the limelight, Jobs was saying “See? I’m not the only brain around… these guys are the ones into it!”. I am sure there is a detailed roadmap for future involvement of these and other key Apple figures and I don’t think that Jobs will be leaving in the short term. As with many steps Apple has taken in the past, they tend to be very coherent, a clockwork meticulously oiled and tuned.

The net is talking a lot about the new Macbooks, that always pushing the industry a step forward, but even more about Jobs stepping aside. This is an interesting article on Gizmodo by Jesus Dias.

Today (and for all the event) I will be the “official” live blogger for the iSummit 2008, organized by iCommons in Sapporo, Japan.

After the success of previous editions in Harvard ‘05, Rio de Janeiro ‘06 and Dubrovnik ‘07, the iSummit comes to Sapporo, one of the most innovation-oriented cities in Japan.

I’ll be using Cover it Live for the live blogging and you can follow the keynotes on the iSummit Blog.

PS: I will be updating this post later with links to concluded keynotes.

This is the opening keynote session with Heather Ford, Jimmy Wales, Joi Ito and Mohamed Nanabhay.

I guess I have a particular ability to get entangled in great events and, even though I’m on a sabbatical, I did it again… I guess that’s one of the problems of knowing a lot of cool and interesting people around the world!

After several World Business Forums, Pangea Day and barcamps, this time I’ll be in Sapporo, Japan, collaborating with the iCommons team that is organizing the iSummit ‘08. This is one of the most interesting and stimulating real life meetings on global digital culture. I’ll be in charge of the live blogging and some other interesting stuff.

The programme ranges from keynotes to labs and local events.

These are some of the keynotes:

• The Literacy Project: Encouraging Best-Practice Sharing in the Non-profit Community by Jessica Powell
• Ready to Share: Fashion and the Commons by Johanna Blakley
• Collaborative Creativity: How innovation together has stood the test of time by Rishab Ghosh
• Status of the Commons by Joi Ito
• The Future of Open Search by Jimmy Wales

The labs:

• Open Education Policy and Practice in a New Century: Implementing What Works
• Open Business
• Local Context Global Commons: Open Publishing
• DIY video
• Frontiers of Openness in Japan
• Research Workshop on Free Culture

This is a brief description taken from the official iSummit website:

The fourth global iSummit will be held in Sapporo, Japan from 29 July to 1 August, 2008. iCommons in association with Digital Garage, Creative Commons Japan and the City of Sapporo will bring together pioneers of the free Internet from over 60 countries around the world.

Inspired by Japanese innovation and hosted in a city fast becoming recognised for its modern, creative, technology-orientated approach to business and public initiatives – this year’s iSummit will be a ground-breaking event that showcases pioneering approaches to furthering digital culture around the world.

Join and follow the event on:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube
• or visit the official website and blog

If you’re going to Sapporo, please drop a line and let’s meet there.

So, this post is intended mainly for italian speakers…

Finalmente si è confermata l’edizione milanese del Pangea Day: Pangea Day Milano!!

Prima di entrare nel dettaglio, alcuni di voi vi chiederete cosa c’entro. Ebbene, prima di partire per il mio sabbatico in Giappone, sono stato coinvolto in questo bellissimo progetto non-profit.

Volete partecipare?
Potete dare una mano? (in particolare qualche esperto di WordPress per sistemare il sito!)
Avete il modo di diffondere la notizia?
Vi piacerebbe collaborare attivamente?

mandatemi un’email a gianfranco(punto)chicco(at)gmail(punto)com

Riguardo all’evento, segue una mini descrizione:

WBF 2007 seen through Animoto.com!