It may not have been 'revolutionary,' but Apple's big conference got more buzz than Google's
Apple puts on WWDC, which began yesterday, while Google holds I/O, which took place at the end of May.
Both companies started the events to connect with software engineers, but use the opportunity to unveil their latest-and-greatest products.
Apple has traditionally been much better at showing off. Steve Jobs notoriously obsessed over every launch, prepping for months beforehand.
But Google has gotten flashier too, over the years. For example, it launched Glass in 2012 by showing a live video of people jumping out of a blimp while wearing the Internet-connected glasses.
This year, the consensus seemed to be that neither company really wowed the audience or the thousands of people watching from home or work (despite Apple's liberal use of the word "revolutionary"). Google announced a new version of Android, a new photo app, and updates to its virtual reality product, Google Cardboard. Apple talked about updates to its computer, watch, and smartphone software as well as a brand new music streaming service.
When it comes to putting on a show though, Apple still have the edge. Apple's presentation generated more buzz than Google's, according to new findings from the digital research company Amobee Brand Intelligence.
Here's the data Amobee dug up:
- Overall WWDC generated far more online visibility than Google I/O - to be exact, there was 154% more digital consumption around WWDC on June 8 than there was around Google I/O on May 28.
- There were about 674,120 tweets with concepts and hashtags related to Google I/O on May 28 versus 1,146,672 tweets around concepts and hashtags related to WWDC on June 8.
- There was 70% more real-time interest around the WWDC keynote than there was around the Google I/O keynote.
- The introduction of Android Pay was definitely the biggest headline of Google I/O with the new service generating 76,400 tweets on May 28. Android M, the latest version of the Android OS generated 32,600 tweets while Google Photos had 28,200 tweets about it.
- Meanwhile, on June 8, the iPad ended up being the WWDC announcement generating the most interest, largely around the introduction of multitasking, receiving 145,782 tweets. That edged out Apple Music which generated 111,519 tweets. The upcoming iOS 9 was mentioned in 60,822 tweets.
- Other interesting tidbits: positive sentiment around Apple peaked at 2:09pm Eastern time with 1,368 positive tweets around increasing iPhone battery life through iOS 9.
- Negative sentiment peaked at 1:17pm Eastern time with 693 negative tweets around native apps loading slowly on the Apple Watch during the presentation.
While tweets are obviously an imperfect measure of popularity, it's still interesting to see what people were chatting about.