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.
MacDailyNews Take: IDG World Expo, the producer of Macworld Conference & Expo, is hating life right about now.
Apple’s press release stated, verbatim:
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.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: The end of a rather remarkable era (excluding Amelio). A moment of silence, please…
Thank you.
Now, judging by recent history, special “media events” and WWDC will suffice quite nicely for product unveilings. We assume Jobs will continue to deliver presentations at such events.
That said, the communal nature (Macworld Expo was Mac users’ Mecca) and workshops for non-devs will be missed; predawn alarms to go line up for hours before Steve Jobs’ keynotes, not so much.
Our condolences to those who bought Macworld Expo tickets mainly in anticipation of a keynote by Steve Jobs and, of course, those who never attended a Jobs Macworld Expo keynote live.
Cue the “Jobs is dying” articles in 3, 2, 1…
Makes sense, I suppose. It was probably difficult for Apple to plan its product announcements around a predetermined time each year. Apple used to go through the routine two or more times each year, with the various “expos.” Now, they can schedule the product announcements and hold special events when the products are ready and the timing makes the most sense.
All of this fuss of staging events in order to advance Apple’s agenda is finally over.
Steve Jobs can now retire quietly to a life of seclusion while some assume he’s dead. Others will assume he is still generating all of Apple’s wonderful ideas long distance. I have no doubt whatsoever, someone will advance a rumor that Apple has frozen Jobs so that he might be cloned at some point in the future.
No more tells. No more telegraphing punches. No more analysis. No more frothing at the mouth over inane rumors and the disappointment that follows.
Microsoft and HP will now have to find their own way in to the future and will no longer be allowed capitalize on Apple’s momentum to propel themselves forward. Leeches!
Who knows though, perhaps Jobs will hit the lecture circuit? I’ve paid to hear him speak and would do it again. Or maybe Apple will stage an event if they have to jump start a marketing plan, which if it came every thirty-months, that’s okay too.
In any case, I will continue to enjoy my place among the living.
The Jobs transitions begins now. It is just a matter of time.
Wow! I’m crestfallen. (and not because I’ve always wanted to say “crestfallen” either) It has been so cool to watch Uncle Steve throughout the years making his keynote speeches. He made the boilerplate for keynote charisma. So much of this world has already changed, this just adds one more footnote to the already massive stack of things I’ve enjoyed to watch, listen, or read about but are no longer here.
From the first…
To the latest…(iphone)
It’s been great listening to you talk, Steve!
Well I suppose it’s a shame to see it go, but ken1w’s assessment seems about right. I wonder if there will be any TownHall events planned in the coming months?
if this is Apple’s last show at the expo, Jobs should do his last keynote there and that would go down in history… as for him not missing Apple’s last appearance.
dimplemonkey…
You rock because I was wanting to use crestfallen in my post but you beat me to it.
sign me,
crestfallen
Bummer! As I have grown older I no longer think of Christmas morning with great anticipation or expectation as I did when I was a child. Macworld was the one event that rekindled those emotions. Every year I eagerly await seeing how Apple will improve my business or just make life more fun.
However, it doesn’t take much thought or imagination to understand that having to schedule major product announcements around that venue might not be in Apple’s best interest (or their investors). Now they will be free to announce what they want, when they want. But damn, I’m really going miss that show.
Jobs transition begun with last Macbook official video, featuring J.Ive, and other key Apple execs that had never been introduced in society before.
Apple surely have plenty of good reasons to exit macworld – (basically, they don’t need it, no big fuss, media events are enough, they open to a larger public, so get rid of that image of geeks diehard fans tribe), etc… – but they certainly MUST be more explicit to avoid speculations and shares nosediving…
I got over trade shows a looooong time ago. And Apple pulling out, while really bad news for MacWorld and IDG… really makes sense. In fact there’s been this unnatural pressure on Apple to announce something every January (which isn’t really the right time for product intros for Apple.)
But the fact that SJ won’t keynote the last one… yikes. F*ck. I can only think of one explanation — especially since it’s the last one — and I am taking it hard. And I can’t bear to / won’t put those thoughts in writing. Oh the sun (though only the one in the sky!) will come up again and the company will thrive, but… it hurts. A lot more than I thought it would.
“I guess Apple cannot justify spending the millions of dollars in this economy to have Jobs take stage at Macworld…”
Not really sure why it would take millions to do that, unless you mean because he is actually a robot.
I still remember the party sponsored by Stone Design.
Best parties EVER!
-jcr
I am saddened by the news that Apple’s pulling out of the Expo – but I can’t really say that I’m surprised.
I used to really love going to the Expo each year, but the past 2 at least, were basically the iPod/iPhone Expo – very little actual computer stuff.
Also – knowing that Adobe is pulling out too, it seemed that the handwriting was on the wall.
Apple is finally giving in and planning to attend CES.
Give up a dying trade show in favor of another dying trade show?
-jcr
Well. a robot he may be.. but that means he doesnt need to be frozon
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I agree J. Scott, i would wake up in the morning and jump onto MDN and be waiting.. Willl mis it!
Wandering around Macworld SF 1997 feeling the doom in the air. Power Computing was trying to drum up interest still in OS X the show was more of a used car sales feel to it as it was to a crowd already interested in MacOS systems, but everyone was hoping for a miracle. Flash forward to Macworld SF 2009 and the world is a much different place. Apple needed trade shows back then because there really were few other ways to get people in front of new stuff. Now you can wander in and see the stuff in Malls! In 1997 there was no chance of anyone ever believing you would have packed Apple Stores, and the streets lined with Apple products like iPods and iPhones, and going into coffee shops and airports finding more Apple laptops than windows ones… I like the idea of they having more freedom of releasing products when ready, then always being expected to release something great every Jan. or suffer the stock market wraith that always happened anyway…. WHAT? It does not fly, give head, and mow the lawn for me?!? Damn that is a let down… blah blah blah.
I was really disappointed when Macworld first announced that only the platinum pass holders have access to the keynotes. Now that they get their fair share of “revenge” from Jobs.
It was a good run. Almost 10% market share, but it looks like PC will have his day after all in the end.
Anyone who’s been to Macworld since 2003, knows it, and other tradeshows were dead already. Apple has matured, they aren’t the
‘look at those!’ waitresses at Hooters, but they are the ‘good wife’ who takes care of the house, kids and you, and still manages to make it seem easy. There is nothing in technology or entertainment that requires a tradeshow anymore, except the Killbot 2017 Expo,
where the killer robots finally announce their keynote on
human enslavement.
Yes, we have killer ‘wheeled’ robots, and Japan has domestic ‘walking’ robots, so you can see where this is going.
Last year there were about 45,000 registered for MacWorld. That number has been dropping in recent years.
I don’t know what Apple pays for booth space, but with the cost to rent the space, transport products to and from the show, pay Apple employees to work the show instead if their day jobs, etc. probably costs Apple hundreds of thousands to attend MacWorld.
If I remember correctly, there were approximately 350 million visits to Apple retails stores last fiscal year. That’s almost a million visitors a day.
Do the math.
Why Schiller? Why not board member Al Gore?
Just ’cause Schiller is the lead on the keynote does not mean that Jobs can’t appear on it.
In the last years, Jobs has been the lead and Schiller has shown up for extended periods of time.
Can’t it be reversed this time around?
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.
Maybe.
However, the Stevenotes generated a very MAJOR amount of buzz, and increased interest in whatever Steve might unveil.
Apple needs the excitement of major rollouts at major events.
Sporadic “media events” at Cupertino won’t have the same effect.
Consider the iPod and iPhone. What if they were announced via a few obscure press releases? Would they still be such superstars?
@one more thing
My thoughts exactly. Personally, I think this is the beginning of the end for Steve as CEO. They have very clearly been trying to transition over to Phil Schiller and others during the last few announcements. This gets Jobs out of the limelight and limits speculation about his health.
what does Apple, companies who build products around Apple products and regular consumers have to gain from tradeshows? Is it like 1-stop shopping? Demos? As a regular shmoe, what do i have to lose if i don’t attend a tradeshow?