In recent years Apple has put a lot of effort into the opening videos of their biggest events, often none bigger than the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) which captures the attention of their entire development community.
For the 2014 event, Apple had a rather serious video about developers and developing. Great message, but snoozefest.
What we missed out on was a bit of Larry David magic. A 10 minute film has surfaced online which is clearly an Apple video that never saw the light of day.
While clearly not the finished product, notably because it’s far too long and the titles are terrible, this is a polished highly produced production.
In it, Larry David plays the role of “App Approver” at Apple. Entering work at 1 Infinite Loop, stopping a colleague from “tailgaiting” him through security.
Then in his office he has a phone conversation with the developer of rejected app “Upset Pigeons” about how their app is a rip off of Angry Bird.
He then goes through his day, rejecting apps, and even talking with Snapchat creator Evan Spiegel about how dumb his app is.
Comedian J.B. Smoove enters with his lunch, and they banter about not sharing food – in what for 2021 would seem a touch racist for an Apple launch video, but fits solidly within the comedic banter of the whole thing.
Long story short, Larry gets stuck without his pass, needing to tailgate the same bloke he rejected earlier, and we learn a lesson about how comprehensive the App Store approval process is, and why the process is important.
It’s bloody funny, with typical Superman references too.
A shame it never made it.
