Today is Apple Keynote Party Day!

Christmas has come again.

Across the world, millions of geeks will be silently bursting with glee in the run up to the Apple keynote. For most grown men (and, for the geekier women), there is nothing better than an Apple keynote day. The excitement is simply fantastic.

Even if you try and avoid the headlines and tweets, it’s rather fun to see the mobile world changing in front of you.

I LOVE the fact that whilst I’m sitting back gawping in delight, hundreds of frantic board calls are being hastily arranged around the world by panicked competitors wondering just what the ramifications of the announcements will be.

I do hope there’s some delight.

I wasn’t that impressed at the iPhone 4S keynote, despite the amazing Siri demonstrations. Apple allowed the media to run away with the story of the “iPhone 5” and didn’t attempt to put any corrections out via the company’s network of friendly analysts, journalists and tipsters. That was a mistake and it damaged by appreciation of the event. Like the millions watching, I was sitting waiting for the new hardware. Even as the keynote came to the end, I wondered if there was still time for one-more-thing.

You see, this bit is is total theatre. So it’s important to get it right.

On balance I think Apple has managed the expectations reasonably well. We’ve had lots of controlling counter-“facts” to help the media more or less arrive at some kind of “informed assumptions”. A new iPad, a better screen, probably a better processor and so on. But nothing earth shattering. Good. If a new iPad arrives looking good, that’s fine. If Apple move mountains with an awesome announcement we didn’t expect, brilliant.

Either way, I’m delighted that so many geeks will have a little spring in their step this morning.

For the mobile geek world, the Apple keynote is probably the closest thing we’ve got to event programming. It’s like Big Fight Night. Or the Superbowl.

I’m looking forward to seeing what all the enterprises out there will make of the new iPad. Will they suddenly be replacing their “old” iPad 2s with the new ones? Will we start to see corporate-hand-me-down iPad policies? e.g. The CEO wants an iPad 3, so his PA can have the iPad 2? I wonder.

Come on Apple, let’s see what you’ve got!