“I’m wondering what the move to end the decade long tradition of the Stevenote speech at Macworld means to Apple (AAPL) and its ongoing strategy. While Apple always has its own developers conference and events for the iPhone and iPod product lines as well as its so-called ‘Special Events,”‘ there is no gathering quite like the MacWorld Expo [sic]. While in my previous post, I argued that pulling out of MacWorld is just the next logical step in a decision to minimize investment in tradeshows, it is undeniable that the MacWorld Expo is at least a little bit more important than the rest. Only at MacWorld, did average consumers, fanatics, and general press willingly gather to listen to Steve Jobs (and, hopefully, to Phil Schiller this year) set the tone for the coming year’s consumer tech products. It was, in many respects, a state of the union address both for Apple and consumer tech,” The Curious Investor writes for Seeking Alpha.

“I wish Apple could have chosen a better way to do this. A surprise withdrawal from MacWorld Expo is not necessarily the best way to inspire confidence especially when there is already concern over the CEO’s health. In the long run, this could be a good move for Apple. Steve is 53, and hopefully, he has many good years left, but everyone gets tired and everyone age,” TCI writes.

“The question for investors is whether or not there is someone or several ‘someones’ who could fill Steve Jobs’ shoes, and continue to execute and evolve its very solid business strategy in the event that Jobs does eventually decide to take a lesser role in the business. The problem for investors is that Apple refuses to be forthright about Jobs’ health, his intentions going forward, or any succession plan at all. While this isn’t something we ask of most companies, who would succeed Eric Schmidt if he became technology czar or 64-year old Larry Ellison? It is an issue for a company, which has willfully decided to turn its CEO into its greatest salesperson and the symbolic source of its intangible competitive advantages. For now, all we can do is speculate,” TCI writes.

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Brawndo Drinker" for the heads up.]