No Steve Jobs at Macworld. Last year Apple will participate.
Wow. Bombshell! Also note that last time Schiller covered a Keynote for Jobs, Steve Jobs was undergoing cancer surgery. We hope all is well in Cupertino.
Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld (BOOM!!!!)
CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2008—Apple® today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.
Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.
Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.
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Comments (33)
oookay...wow...i didn't expect that...
Is this a joke? What on Earth is going on?
...that NONE of the big usual Mac-related Newssites have brought this up. no macnn no macworld - suspicous i would say...
its a pretty big scam then
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/12/16macworld.html
April Fools?
Right?
Hello?!
:(
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/12/16macworld.html
I mean Mac users love these things, why not give people what they want... it doesn't mean you have to break the bank to show up at the show... but do a keynote and leave, cause its a good way to create buzz on a new product...
I don't get it really.
quote:
"No [j]obs at Macworld. "
All the Apple's stand personnel will miss the salaties!
OTOH, start the presses... "Jobs is death (again)!"
crap
My sister works for a company that supplies audio/video for big events like E3 and other large trade shows. Trade shows are a big money pit anymore, sales do not come from them. Trade shows have turned out to be events were media and diehards come to play with the new tech/device/game and then walk away. The big deals that use to come from these kinds of events happen on their own now, everyone is starting scale back on trade shows.
I also think the Mac World key note suffered from other problems:
1) It's confusing... it seems like the whole thing is hosted by Apple, but it's not. It's brand dilution. Yuck.
2) It's a commitment to deliver something every year. Those are hard expectations to have to meet. It means you either have to pre-announce products (which kills sales) or you give a lackluster show and disappoint everyone and take a beating on your stock price.
3) Apple is getting just as much coverage from its own events at MUCH lower cost.
I agree with other posters that this event was really a big love in for the bloggers and journalists who cover Apple that gave them an opportunity to meet. But Apple has WWDC for that.
If everyone on here spends the whole year dreaming of what Apple is going to deliver on this arbitrary date then that means all the engineers at Apple spend the entire year dreading this arbitrary date. I've been there at other companies and know how much that sucks. So, I don't blame Apple for perhaps wanting to push off that yoke, especially considering the economic climate.
I don't expect Apple to stop innovating or putting out new products. They're very well positioned to continue investing through this crisis and that's exactly what I expect them to do.
I also highly doubt this has anything to do with Jobs' health in any direct way. I could see that perhaps the Board is concerned that Steve has become too tightly coupled with the brand and so maybe this change is a good way to start breaking that association. I'm actually wondering if from now on we'll see a parade of different faces giving these presentations and not just see Shiller become the new Steve (which would be a miserable FAILURE).
Interesting time ahead.
I hate to see this news, because I love watching the Apple keynotes, but I think this makes sense. If for no other reason, the MacWorld keynote has become a time when everyone expects something new and fantastic, but maybe for the company it isn't always a good time for it. If the keynote isn't mind-boggling, it slams the stock. This way they can do things on their own schedule, and do major product announcements when the time is right. But it does make me a bit sad.
Speculation about Steve Jobs' health in 3...2...1...
well we ever see a keynote by Steve Jobs again?
Not a huge surprise to me ... these things are expensive and time consuming. I suspect Steve not being on hand might just be a way to lower expectations.
Oh well. I've been going to these for 15 years, since they're only about a 20 minute drive away. But really, Apple has nothing to gain from exhibiting at MWSF any more. It's expensive, it's at an awkward time of year, it attracts only a tiny fraction of the number of people that their worldwide retail chain does. Special media events (like the recent aluminum MacBook event) let Apple announce products when and where they want to. And who knows? Maybe Apple will increase their presence at CES and attack Microsoft in Las Vegas directly instead of remotely from SF...
You're especially right about the awkward time of year.
Simply by knowing that apple might release an updated, better version of product XYZ in January at MacWorld, I would never, ever buy any Apple Product for Christmas. Maybe a gift coupon but never the actual iPod/Mac/iPhone/Whatever...
They don't realize the reason they are where they are is because crazy people pump up Apple products to their friends, family, coworkers, and anyone who will listen. Macworld is an event the crazies speculate over all year.
The NFL could get rid of the Superbowl to save money, because they can reach people without it.
Dumb ASS move
Nag. I've been to MW and it us fun but not worth the time or expense. I much rather go to WWDC which is way better for attendees and that has been building in fanfare. Expect a killer WWDC this year as Apple tries to seal the proposition in the medias mind. It'll be like the olympics in China I bet.
Word up dude! Steve just DOES NOT realize that macworld is....was an EVENT and not just a simple tradeshow. Let them start a new show then on their own campus......AppleExpo?
I give Steve Jobs six months to live.
I think I'm going to cry... :(
These are what got me through January.
Goodbye Apple, hello the new Microsoft!
Steve is dead... long term sleep. Weeeeeeeeee! :(
After turning 21 there's nothing to look forward to except Steve Job's keynotes and death. Now it's only death.
Well, any chance of having an happy Xmas is now over.
Not the underdogs they used to be - Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh brand. Disassociate the company from a brand name (Mac), we're so much more now.
"Mac"world?
"I can't remember if I cried when I read about his widowed bride. But something touched me deep inside, the day, the music died." - Don McLean, "American Pie" - credit whomever owns the rights, licenses, distribution ...etc, etc.
It's all there in the fine print, you just failed to read it.
Boycott WWDC - throw a hammer through the corporate screen!
If they don't take back their comment on Steve Jobs backing out, they might be making possibly THE biggest mess up in computer history (I see that IE is having a bad day today as well, but apple far tops that)!. Many apple users will be discouraged to buy mac products because there is no official release center. It is like the car companies no longer showing off new vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show! It is insane, stupid, and gives you a VERY discouraging mindset