“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.]
All hogwash. By leaving the last Macworld in someone else’s hands and announcing that this is the end of it, Steve is also ending the expectations and restrictions that were imposed by the old system (grantedly, self-imposed in this last decade of growth and change).
Now the company will be free to develop, display, and announce new features, software, and products on their own timetable going forward, using anyone they wish, and avoid the issues that came from missed deadlines, personal health issues, etc. that so often made headlines in the past.
It’s a good move, and not a bad way to do it (even if it was a little shocking and surprising to all of us). A year from now this will be only a moment of history, and no longer relevant.
@The Other Steve
It’s called the WWDC.
And if there is something that Apple wants to share directly with the people, the number of people, per week, in the Apple stores is equal to (saw this somewhere) the number of people that went to the trade show.
So they can reach 52 times the people without even going to a show.
Personally I think it’s a bit of a ploy. Not exiting the show, I think that’s just intelligent because trade shows are dying, dying…well, not quite dead yet. Close, though. But having Phil do this year’s keynote, it lowers expectations. And what does Apple always do? Under-promise, over-deliver (at least in their quarterly guidances).
So you say Phil Schiller’s giving the keynote. Everyone goes boo-hoo, no cool new products. Then he brings out the coolest thing since the iPhone, maybe even cooler, and people go WTF was I thinking?
Plus, if Jobs is looking for an out soon, then if Phil announces the newest coolest greatest thing out there, people can no longer say it’s all Jobs.
PS-I think they’ve got something up their sleeve that no one has seen coming. I have no idea what, because I haven’t seen it coming either. I just have a feeling…something…
Some of you hit it right on the head. Apple never said Steve would not APPEAR at Macworld. Schiller may be giving the keynote, but who’s to say Steve won’t show up? Maybe they’ll share the stage in some respect and make the announcement the Jobs is taking a lesser role in the company. When Gates scaled back at MS, was that the end of MS?
OK, bad example. Besides look at the buttbrain who took over for him.
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The truth is that Schiller, Ive and a whole assortment of geniuses can run Apple and carry on with the same ideology that brought Apple back from no-man’s land ten years ago. And heaven forbid that Steve is really sick, the company will go on.
BTW, google Whipple procedure and you will see some of the side effects it has on people. One of the biggest side effects is the inability to eat as much and also digest foods the same as before. Steve had this procedure to remove the cancerous growth on his pancreas (as most of you know), but consider the fact that his weight loss probably has nothing to do with his cancer. It’s more about the procedure. He even stated this fact. So before everyone writes his eulogy, there may be a reason why he looks so thin and gaunt – it doesn’t mean he’s had a recurrence of anything. Maybe the guy just wants to be in semi-retirement and not speak at trade shows anymore.