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End of an Era: No More MacWorld Keynotes
Apple just released this press release a few minutes ago:
"CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2008—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.
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."
So what does this mean? Well, Apple could still hold its own special events (at more appropriate times than in early January), but there are two things that concern me (after the jump):
a) Why no Steve Jobs? Is he sick? Or perhaps Apple just doesn't have anything to show and Steve doesn't want to make a fool of himself. This could also explain why they do not want to have keynotes at fixed dates anymore: Apple just can't keep living up to the hype.
b) The reason for not attending: "trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers". Oh puh-lease! The hype around MacWorld starts well before November, and almost every tech site is on Keynote-live mode during Steve's stage time. That is advertisement like no other. I really doubt that this is a "minor" part of Apple reaching customers. So, if this is not the reason, what is?
Anyway, all in all, a very sad announcement I must say. After New Year's I was always looking forward to Apple's new products of the year.
Hey dude,
I think you hit the nail on its head with this sentence: "Apple just can't keep living up to the hype". Or maybe they don't want to feel pressured to be creative on a schedule. Or maybe they would have to sacrifice the quality of their products to release on such a schedule. However, on the upside I think it's a smart move since they are moving on from the iconic portray of Steve Jobs. Even if he's not sick now, I don't think it's a good idea to rely most of a company's public image on one guy, even if that guy is Jobs. So even if in the short run the AAPL stock might suffer a little bit, I see this is a smart long-term move.
Froehliche Weihnachten,
Alex
Hey Alex,
I definitely agree with you that Apple needs to move their focus away from his-royal-"mac"estry Steve Jobs. I think the problem is that many do not see him as merely a public image, but as the source of all great Apple ideas that would run dry if he was no longer there. And although share holders may be over-reacting to the health issues, it does show that the company is too tightly coupled with its iCEO, resulting in some of the roller-coaster AAPL changes we have seen lately.
Merry XMas!
is it THE Keynote which is discontinued? I know there is also another less spectacular thing like the Developer's Conference. So are you saying they Keynotes introducing new OSX versions with the "one more thing" are no more? If so, my first guess would be: This is because Steve is getting too old or Apple has sold too many IPhones :)
Yes, it is the keynote that is being discontinued, along with Apple's presence at the MacWorld Expo. To clear things up: MacWorld Expo is owned by IDG, the publishing company that owns the MacWorld magazine. There used to actually be two MacWorld trade shows (East and West), but when Apple pulled out of the East show a few years ago, the entire expo died along with it shortly after. Whether the West show will face a similar fate remains to be seen...
On the other hand, as WWDC is an event organized by Apple, we can expect this tradition to be upheld. This is the same for any Apple Special Events. This allows Apple to announce things when they want, as opposed to having to announce new products directly after Christmas (causing many people to hold off purchasing Apple products during the holiday season).