It’s an opportunity to show off new products or features.
The PC world has the same kind of events.
Nothing contrived about any of these events.
I understand the marketing aspect of all this. It's just that it's so much ‘theatre’. When my home screen linked to the event there was a woman on talking about ‘if you're an NPR junkie, like me’ - and then going on to show some iPhone app for NPR junkies. It's just too much.