I thunk Jobs is successful because the product sells itself in most cases, and he doesn't (have to) bullshit you. Of course he's also involved in making the product, which is a different matter.
I think there are two reasons for this. First off, he's a perfectionist when it comes to timing and arrangements. Apple execs in general are pretty good at knowing what the public cares about hearing and what they'll find boring; not so with other companies, whose executives are usually hilariously awful. But even among Apple's top presenters I think that Steve's timing is particularly terrific.
The bigger reason, however, is that Steve displays a really sincere love for almost all the things he shows off (and it's very obvious on the rare occasions he doesn't like what he has to say). It seems really clear that he genuinely thinks all the things he shows off are as terrific as he says they are. It's magnetic to see somebody talk about how much they love something. It's also rare to see it coming from a corporate event.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jan/05/newmedia.me...
Compare this to Zuckerberg, who tends to look a bit nervous and like he's trying to sell something a bit. (Note I'm not saying Zuckerberg isn't passionate about what he does, he is, but it tends not to show). Or Ballmer who looks like he's trying really hard to be passionate about his products.
“I have one of the best jobs in the world. I get to hang out with some of the most talented, committed people around and together we get to play in this sandbox and build these cool products. Apple is an incredibly collaborative company. You know how many committees we have at Apple? Zero. We’re structured like a start-up. We’re the biggest start-up on the planet. And we all meet once a week to discuss our business… and there’s tremendous teamwork at the top and that filters down to the other employees… and so what I do all day is meet with teams of people and work on ideas and new problems to come up with new products.”
I think a lot of that has to do with how he returned ($1 salary, etc). I've also got a bit of an attachment to him and Woz through growing up learning about computers and programming on a series of Apple ][ machines. When we switched to Macintosh at home, I had awful experiences with the pre-iStore Macintosh affiliates and to this day I instinctively cringe at the thought of purchasing Apple products.
I don't know how the younger generations see Apple. Probably they way we saw Sony. Honestly, I don't think any products Apple has made recently are as inspiring or enlightening as the Apple ][ line. The few Apple products I've used recently have always ended up being a hassle. I don't think the way MacOS X wants me to think and I hate iTunes. I bought an iPad and had to return it because we couldn't get along. Nevertheless, Apple still has a place in my heart even if its products do not and I hope Jobs is OK.
It helps that Apple's products are cool and some of them practically sell themselves - but Jobs is able to bring a level of genuine sincerity to his presentations that few other CEOs can (despite their best efforts).
IMO the big thing about Steve Jobs and showmanship is that he feels sincere. We've all seen the keynotes and launches where the CEO is trying to express his/her enthusiasm about their new product in the most contrived, artificial, cringe-worthy way possible (Ballmer is a master at this). Jobs seems immune to this - he comes off as just as excited as you are.
The enthusiasm is infectious and helps the press (and in turn, the general public) get hyped up about the product.
If you're going to hop on stage and build buzz for your product, you better be pretty good at it. Ballmer gets brownie points for trying (most CEOs don't, and leave their marketing underlings to deliver equally boring keynotes).
I have to disagree with you. I was at WWDC '09 and the keynote (http://movies.apple.com/datapub/us/podcasts/apple_keynotes/w...) was by far the worst part of the conference. I felt like a lot of the presenters of the individual sessions had a better stage presence than some of the execs.
Have you watched any other CEOs present their products? Even the other Apple CxOs.
It's all blather blather blather buzzword awkward brow wiping bullshit bullshit equivocate buzzword blather blather adjust suit cuffs blather bullshit buzzword crash landing.
But my point was more about the 'showman' part than about the 'corporate' part. When Jobs takes to the stage, he's almost invariably unveiling a ridiculously cool product with revolutionary/craze potential. One that he has personally worked on. It's no surprise that he seems so personal and sincere, or that that the enthusiasm is palpable. What other companies lack is not a great showman, but this great situation of having their leader demo a brilliant invention every 6 months. That requires a) a leader and b) a brilliant product.