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Apple's big day

• Maggie Shiels
• 9 Jun 09, 09:15 GMT

The is a marquee event for Apple, at which the company usually tries to build plenty of buzz and then knock one out of the park with a big product announcement.

That headline-grabbing moment failed to materialise this year; in all honesty, the two-hour event was, well, a bit boring.

A stream of execs trotted out a series of hardware and software improvements; as one analyst told me, these were just "iterative improvements...and far from earth shattering".

Sure, there were some cheers and applause for price reductions on Macs and on Snow Leopard. And of course, the hundred-buck saving on the iPhone 3G caused a bit of excitement but there was really nothing that set the heather on fire.

Even when Apple's head of marketing, Phil Shiller, came to the big "a-ha" moment and announced the new iPhone 3GS, it was with little fanfare. None of the famous set-up used by Steve Jobs to great effect when he utters the words "one last thing."

I was third row from the front, squeezed in with a bunch of serious snappers with their souped-up cameras - but, throughout the keynote, many of them seemed to find it hard to let their shutters fly.

The event just seem to lack energy and sizzle. Rather unusually, there were some technical glitches that many might associate more with Microsoft than Apple.

When software boss Scott Forstall donned a white lab coat to blow up a balloon, the necessary hot air did not happen. It was all part of a stunt to illustrate an app aimed at making science more fun and interactive for kids. 's Wayne Grant handed the affair with aplomb.

Shortly after that, the tech gods then cursed and , who were giving a demo for an app to control guitars and amps, leaving us all a little aurally challenged.

Don't get me wrong: the Apple crew did a fine and professional job, but it did seem as though they were placeholders - as though the series of announcements was a precursor for something that might excite later in the year when Mr Jobs gets back in the driving seat.

And while there was little chance that he was ever really going to put in an eleventh hour appearance here, many attendees I spoke to are looking forward to his return. Not because they believe that anyone has done a poor job in Mr Jobs's absence, but simply because he is just one of those guys who manages to add some fizz to proceedings and shake up the apple cart.

Interestingly enough, some findings released by the website give a bit of an insight into the last few months at Apple. The site allows users to write anonymously about life within their company and to blow off some steam.

While Glassdoor says Steve Jobs earns a 91% approval rating as a boss, the culture he has nurtured falls flat.

Some recent comments from hardware and software engineers reveal the pressure they are under to stay ahead of the field.

"Great company but long hours," wrote one senior hardware engineer; another said: "Apple is very secretive. Schedules are tough and change a lot. Releases, and crunch-time seems omni-present."

Another proffered a suggestion to bosses by writing "value your employees more, try to keep them from getting burned out. They are not always replaceable."

This is advice that Mr Jobs might be willing to heed now more than ever, given his own situation.