MacDailyNews Note: iWork ’09, iLife ’09, DRM-free iTunes Store music, and a 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro were introduced at Macworld Expo this year.
Rogers continues, “Apple recently sent shockwaves through the tech industry when it announced that 2009 would be its last year to exhibit at Macworld, where it has traditionally showcased its latest technologies.”
“With more than 3.5 million people visiting its retail stores each week, and more than 100 million accessing its Web site, Apple clearly feels comfortable stepping away from the conference arena. And why not? The average iPod or iPhone user is more likely to get a tattoo than hang with the conference show geeks,” Rogers writes.
“Apple may also be attempting to liberate its product roadmap from the trade show schedule, which often forces tech firms to push their latest announcements through to coincide with a specific event,” Rogers writes. “Apple’s every move is so closely scrutinized that it no longer needs the launch pad offered by technology conferences.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Jim, fire Moritz and give Rogers more assignments.
wise move
First, right after the holidays is a bad time for a consumer electronics show.
Second, the rumor mill goes nuts for these show, such that the annoucements never live up to the imagined hype.
I’m not sure having a retail chain is really impacted by this. Sure, it would be nice to have tradeshow-viewing events at stores, then roll the products out for the customers right afterwards, but that is difficult to coordinate. Better to set your own announcement schedule without being dependent on trade shows.
Personally, if Macworld sticks around, I hope Apple keeps some sort of presence there, but I agree it is no longer needed as a major product annoucement point.
Can’t help wondering if IDG couldn’t have moved Macworl to, say, September…
Trade shows in January were useful when you had to give your retailers an indication of what products were coming over the next 6 to 9 months. But Apple has its own stores, and doesn’t talk long-term.
So MacWorld in January does nothing for them, though CES in January serves that purpose for other retailers.
What will be really kewl is when Apple DOES release it’s next product. It could be right out of the blue, when you are least expecting it.
Hey! Road Warrior you just cannot be serious!
Will Apple not value all that free pre- launch publicity henceforth?
I really doubt anything will be ‘out of the blue’.
I think he meant out of the blue when Apple send invitations to their campus to show off new products…
That ‘out of the blue’ seems very likely.
Apple’s already stated that in ONE WEEK 100 times more people visit their stores than go to a Macworld Expo, so why bother with the Expo? At a store, a lot more people can experience Apple’s tech first-hand.
IDG would have been smart to both reschedule future MacWorlds and give Apple a free presence at the show. As it is, this show is now dead.
Those invites to “special events” Apple sends out might just garner more attention than the MacWorld Expo. I doubt they would stop doing them.
The Dude abides.
Out of the blue this coming Monday 12 January.
iWork 09 (which is <u>not</u> included when you purchase a Mac) is available, <u>now</u> yet Apple are holding back iLife 09 until January 12, why is that?
Conceivably, Apple could announce a new Mac mini “media” or a new iMac … I’m hoping for the Mac mini which incorporates Apple TV etc.
SL
Maybe Apple’s “withdrawal” is a bargaining ploy to pressure the exhibitors to be more accommodating is some way. (??)
Just another example of how the web has changed fundamentally and forever certain industries, including trade shows, print media (dinosaur newspapers), retail, you name it.
This is just one more step in the evolution of marketing. Trade shows are the new buggy whips.
Just a passing thought, but maybe IDG (or Apple) could start up a “consumer oriented” get-together done along the lines of the increasingly popular (and crowded) San Diego ComiCon.
AppleCon
MacCon
iCon?
(1) More people visit Apple stores across the US and the world in one week than 100 Macworld expos. (2) The timing of Macworld in early January does not fit any of Apple’s product cycles.
Does any more need to be said about this topic?
Having said that, if there is another Macworld in San Francisco, I’ll go. It’s not too much of a “pilgrimage” for me. In fact, if the focus is going to be on the community of developers and users in “the start of a new era,” IDG should hold smaller Macworld expos in various key markets across the US and maybe even internationally.
Jim Cramer can’t fire Scott Moritz, that’d be like chewing off his right arm!