It’s the End Of MacWorld As We Know It

The MacWorld Expo will go on next month as usual, but without Steve Jobs. Instead Apple Senior VP Phil Schiller will make an address. I’m sure nothing ground-breaking will be announced.
In addition, Apple said this is the last time they will participate in the MacWorld Expo, which is, after all, an independent event, not something Apple owns.
Apple stated today:
…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.
So why this change? I think it is simply that Jobs and Apple are growing tired of having to conform to an annual schedule of producing huge announcements. Instead, they’ve been working hard to prove that they can have their own “MacWorld keynote” whenever they want, as Jobs did several times over the last few years with special events held at the Apple campus.
This is probably a good year to start, too, as the lack of rumors and the recent refresh of most of the Apple Mac line and iPhones makes it obvious that Apple didn’t have anything to announce. They can’t have Jobs going up there to announce “Snow Leopard is still coming” or a new video adapter cable.
I think what we’ll see from now on is periodic events held at Apple that are also broadcast to Apple stores worldwide.
Oh, and then there will still be the WWDC — the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. But that is something Apple has complete control of. They’ve shifted the dates around for that many times, and can even be expected to skip a year here or there, as Microsoft has done with their comparable conference.
So this is probably all about Apple taking even more control over their message. Not just what that message is, but when it arrives as well.

Comments: One Response to “It’s the End Of MacWorld As We Know It”

    Daniel
    15 years ago

    It will be strange not having Steve or Apple at MacWorld but their logic is sound.
    If they have something new announce, people will listen and gather where ever they are.

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