“Jason Snell, editor of Macworld (the magazine, which has nothing officially to do with Macworld the show… believes Macworld (the show) will be better off without Apple (the company). That’s a little like saying Minnie Mouse would have been better off ditching Mickey and going for a solo career,” Robert X. Cringely writes for Computerworld.
“Macworld is actually run by IDG World Expo, one of the many arms of the IDG tech empire (Macworld the magazine is one arm, Infoworld is another). IDG is like Shiva, the Hindu goddess of destruction, on steroids — and about as intractable,” Cringely writes.
“Jobs, of course, is the One Right and True Way in all things tech. He doesn’t lose arguments, he just ends them,” Cringely writes.
“So I suspect the explanation is far simpler. This abrupt announcement, coming just as the holidays descend upon us, has all the classic signs of a Jobs temper tantrum. Jobs wanted to change something major about the show. IDG said no, Steve said something like “Fine — see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya” — only with a lot more expletives thrown in,” Cringely writes. “Besides, Macworld needs Apple more than Apple needs Macworld.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Now, wait, which Cringely is this again? Oh, whatever. By now, we’ve heard every explanation under the sun, but we continue to firmly believe that the real reason why Jobs pulled out of Macworld Expo was the message he received last week via deep-space satellite: “Klaatu barada nikto.”
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]
Trade shows are obsolete for certain types of businesses, but not others. The porn industry is in the other category, Apple is not.
By not having to meet MacWorld-induced high expectations, Apple can set its own timing for important announcements, and can, inter alia, reduce unrealistic expectations of delivering miracles every January.
It’s also necessary for Apple to reduce the impact of the cult of personality, and give the CEO a break in the process. He’s earned it.
I don’t know how it happened, but the last entry posted from MCCFR is actually from me, Spark.
Sorry, MCCFR, didn’t mean to put words into your mouth.
Rudge says…
“The company that I work for has several show booths that they take to every show… It’s not that much money or time that Apple is spending for MacWorld.”
Distilled ignorance.
You have absolutely no idea what Apple (or your company, for that matter) spends on Macworld. Also, do you realize Macworld planning begins the day after the last show? How many Apple employees do you suppose are involved in these events? Hundreds? How many of them work full-time, year-round, dedicated to this event?
I’ll bet the total dollars expended annually for Macworld exceeds your company’s entire operating budget!
Think!
Correction: Shiva isn’t a war god. He is the personification of Destruction in the triune Nature of God. Creation, preservation, destruction = the show of creation goes on.
Those who do not care about facts live in a delusional world.
Spark…
Tis cool!
I’ve had far more offensive sentiments put “in my mouth” over the last few years on this site.
Why they let this twit anywhere near a keyboard, much less be allowed to use a knife and fork is beyond me.
Please, anyone: For 50 bonus points, in the years since you started reading the drivel issued by his Cringelyness, has ANY of his predictions or his analysis of current events ever been even close to correct or true?
I thought so.
I suspect the biggest issue for Apple was not dollars, but calories. The human resources devoted to MacWorld are significant and disruptive to other activities. For a company whose head count is not all that large to begin with (if you leave out the retail staff), sending hundreds of employees to SF for a week was probably a huge pain without a offsetting benefit.
For better or worse, Apple’s business model is changing. With the growth in the Mac/iPod/iPhone audience comes a shift in how the company must relate to much larger numbers. For those of us who have been with the Mac since the beginning (or before, since I owned a Lisa), it is a little sad; my first MacWorld was Boston in 1985.
But I am also a stockholder, and I always want Apple skating to where the puck will be. May Apple and MacWorld both find better futures from this choice.
Actually, I always enjoy Cringely’s conspiracy theories, even if I don’t believe them. They are quite creative.
And I believe that he has a point. While I’m not sure I agree with the whole “temper-tantrum” argument, I’m sure Apple basically said, “We want this much space at this price” and IDG said, “No, you’re going to pay us more money” and Apple said, “Without us, you have no show. See ya.”
Also, as has been said over and over, Apple doesn’t really need MacWorld. At this point, when Steve says, “Hey, we’re going to have a presentation for the press,” the press shows up. Apple now has a plethora of retail stores where customers and potential customers can come and see and touch the products before buying them.
I do worry a bit about WWDC taking the place of MacWorld. Several years back, I and many other developers got a bit torqued when the keynote was taken over with iPod stuff. I’m not paying $1200 to hear about Apple stuff that I can’t develop for. I’ll grant you it’s a bit different now (I can develop for the iPod touch and iPhone) but I don’t need to spend $1200 to hear about “AppleTV Take 3” this summer at WWDC unless I can deploy my applications on it.
Um… If I understand right, Shiva is both genders. So, goddess, god — take your pick.
——RM
That’s what Macworld gets for shooting the scroll of knowledge out of Steve Jobs hand.
Sorry MDN can you repeat that last line, I just want to make sure I heard you right; you know, before I do something silly …
… So once again was that Klaatu Barada Nikto or Klatu Verada Taco.
If Apple put it’s mega-buck toward opening Apple stores in every major city in the world, they wouldn’t need any kind of shows. They could make major announcements on the Web and co-ordinate with big promotional events at all the Apple Stores.
Newspapers and TV cameras would simply pick-up the line-ups in front of all the Apple Stores and add to the event.
Gender is the wrong word, it would be both “sexes.” Words have gender but people have sex.
on showing that stupid Macheads movie.
As I’ve said before…
embarrassing.
Kali is the goddess of destruction. She is Shiva’s consort. Shiva is the supreme god.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali
Tantrum, my ass.
There’s a far simpler explanation than Mark Stephens’ fantasy, and it’s the same one that Apple gave in their press release. Trade shows just aren’t cost effective anymore.
Apple has pulled out of MWNY, MW Paris, NAB, and the writing’s been on the wall for MWSF a very long time. I’ve been going to it for the last five years or so, and the show floor keeps getting smaller.
-jcr
“Cringely is obviously a Republican,”
WTF? Since when is jealously of a highly successful entrepreneur a republican habit?
Cringely is as pink around the edges as any other journalist working today.
-jcr
You know… with all the pro-Apple talk (Apple is doing the right thing because trade shows/conventions are dead/dying) in all the discussions about Apple’s pull out… I have yet to read/hear of a rather well publicized exception the “trade shows/conventions are dead/dying” rule.
And, if IDG based a new type of show on it, they just might be able to steal a bit of Apple’s thunder. Because these events hold inestimatable PR value.
Use the San Diego and New York ComiCons as new trade show/convention models, aimed not at the tech industry, but the Apple/Mac buying public.
Call it AppleCon, MacCon, iCon or X-Con.