Apple’s 50th anniversary celebration is like a globe-trotting party, hopping from one country to the next. It kicked off with a surprise performance by Alicia Keys at Apple’s Grand Central store in New York last week, followed by similar events in China and South Korea.
Apple’s Canadian website reports that they’ll be hosting a talk with professional skater Elladj Baldé as part of its free Today at Apple program, which is… certainly a top choice for a “grand celebration.” I mean, it’s exactly what I’d plan too if I had Apple-level resources. It genuinely feels like someone asked, “What’s Canada famous for?” and the room collectively went, “Ice. Let’s do something with ice.”
And just to make sure we don’t mistake this birthday party for fun, the celebration will also include a thoughtful discussion on how Baldé uses “ice as a catalyst for creativity and change”—which, I’m sure, will leave a “new generation of athletes” deeply inspired (their words, not mine).
On his Instagram page, Baldé can be seen skating on a frozen lake in Banff National Park, shot on the iPhone 17 Pro’s Dual Capture mode—peppering in just a bit of “subtle” brand integration.
Things get even worse better for France—as they will be getting not one, but four talk sessions with various artists at Apple’s Champs-Élysées store in Paris. You know it’s a real celebration when the word “sessions” keeps coming up again and again in the press release.
These sessions will feature DJ and producer Myd, graphic designer So Me, fictional radio station SOPORI FM, and musician and producer Boombass with two of the talks taking place on Wednesday, March 25, and others on Thursday, March 26.
Thailand will also get its share of the cake via a Today at Apple session, where Molly—the artist behind toy Crybaby—will be sharing her artistic secrets and techniques. Again, thrilling stuff, especially if your idea of a party includes note-taking. The goal behind all these talk sessions, apparently, is to showcase how Apple is helping drive creativity through the myriad technologies it has produced over the years.
Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations are shaping up to be quite a spectacle. I do wonder where they’d been hiding this party-animal side of theirs all this while. Creativity-wise, the closest equivalent I can think of is Jim and Dwight throwing Kelly’s iconic birthday party in The Office.
We have no confirmation if they’ll be bringing these “grand celebrations” to India, but it seems highly unlikely considering the actual anniversary is April 1st—and not that far away. In all seriousness, though, it seems like this isn’t just a celebration so much as a carefully orchestrated marketing strategy—with Apple telling its success story through people rather than products.
