Apple iOS Marketing Head Keeps Low Profile at CES 2012

Apple, which no longer participates in any trade shows including MacWorld, had a tiny presence at CES 2012. One intrepid reporter spotted Apple’s iOS product marketing head Greg Joswiak moseying around the showroom floor. Read on for all the juicy Apple details …

A tip of the hat goes to Tom Krazit at PaidContent.org, who not only covered Greg Joswiak’s appearance at CES 2012, but actually ran into him. Krazit reports:

“Joz” was scouting the competition and “seemed less than impressed” with Sony’s presentation. Krazit reported. Additionally, he said Joswiak had his nametag strategically placed as to minimize any attention to himself or Apple.

So why would Apple be spying on CES 2012? Apple as a company — and Steve Jobs himself — never seemed directly interested in what anyone else was doing. Instead, Apple always has paved its own way. But Apple also has a history of dissing the competition. During the iPad 2 launch, Jobs famously called 2011 “the year of the copycats.” Apple may be interested to see what other companies think are “hip” to ensure it is on the right track with a new product or, if need be, tweak it accordingly.

A less snarky view of Joz’s presence could be that Apple is looking to get a pulse of what kinds of technology, accessories and multimedia features consumers want out of their mobile devices. Apple has created its own line of accessories for its iOS empire, but often more complicated accessories are left up to other vendors. Apple could be scouting to ensure that, say, the iPhone 5 ships with all the right ingredients.

The key takeaway from this? Apple is watching.