Surprise--The Highest Common Denominator of Apple and Google

Tomorrow's the day. 

Pow! rocks the bay.

Brian Caulfield writes in Forbes about the anxiously-awaited Surprises from the always-Surprising Apple at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco tomorrow.  Says he:

"Apple has nudged expectations for its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco Monday so low that anything would be a surprise--which is exactly where Apple wants us to be.

"That's because Apple isn't in the computer business, it's in show business. The only question: What act are we in?"

Brilliant. In more ways than one, Steve Jobs and co. are after my heart.  Delivering a consistent flow of Surprise. Constantly expanding the boundaries of delightful extremes. Generating the Battle Cry of Surprise, namely "What Will They Think of Next?" As Caulfield goes on to explain:

"As always, however, the question with Apple is always when, not what. An Apple tablet or an Apple television probably won't be ready by next week. Then again, if it is, that would be a surprise, even though everyone already knew it was coming. And that's exactly what Apple wants."

So let's see what transpires...

By the way, Apple ain't the only digital behemoth exploiting the power of Surprise.  Take a gander at the opening minutes of Google VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra's intro of Google Wave.  Man, if the word "Surprise" was the F-bomb, this would be like watching an episode of The Sopranos: