Jobs to skip Macworld keynote as Apple backs out
The era of the Macworld Stevenote is over.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)Apple CEO Steve Jobs has given his last keynote address at Macworld in San Francisco.
The company announced on Tuesday afternoon that January's Macworld would mark its last year participating at the show, which is run by publishing company IDG. In addition, Apple said Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing, will deliver the keynote, usually handled by Jobs.
Apple representative Steve Dowling declined to comment on Jobs' health, a prominent topic of discussion this year. Jobs' keynote addresses at Macworld have become almost legendary events, launch pads for some of the company's most important products and strategies. His absence from what many in the Apple community consider their Super Bowl will once again revive rumors that Jobs is ill.
"Phil is giving the keynote because this will be Apple's last year at the show," Dowling said. "It doesn't make sense for us to make a major investment in a trade show we will no longer be attending."
Apple seems to be declaring that it no longer needs industry events like Macworld to get its message out. The company has 250 retail stores around the world that draw millions of people a week, and its Web site is among the top 10 sites, in terms of traffic, on the Internet.
IDG and Apple have had a rocky relationship in the past. Apple used to participate in far more Macworld events than the San Francisco event, and a rift developed between the companies when IDG made the decision to move the Macworld event in New York to Boston, near the company's Framingham, Mass., headquarters. Apple promptly pulled out of that event, and the due to lack of interest without the star attraction.
An IDG representative did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The decision to have Jobs skip Macworld does not necessarily mean that his days as Apple's primary spokesman are over. It seems that Apple is planning to shift its resources toward producing its own events, such as the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June and the September iPod-music event.
But much of the company's vaunted marketing buzz has come from Macworld, which, unlike those other events, allows Apple fans on the street to purchase a ticket and gawk at new Apple gear on display. It's not clear at the moment whether Apple plans to introduce an event that fulfills a similar function, but that will be interesting to watch.
Schiller's keynote address is scheduled to take place at 9 a.m. PT on Tuesday, January 6.
Update: IDG did not return our calls seeking comment regarding Apple's decision, but IDG's Paul Kent is telling various members of the media that the company still plans to put on Macworld Expo 2010, with or without Apple.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Nice to see that you are copy/pasting the same nonsense into articles about Apple. How very efficient of you. All you need to do next is write something true and you'll be golden. In the meantime, we're generally having a good laugh at you. No wonder you don't bother leaving a name...
I guess this is just life, something's gotta give, Steve's health and possibly his life had to be sacrificed for the prosperity of this beloved Company. Gosh, I hope a miracle happens and he gets to at least live another 20 to 30 years since the average life expectancy of the human male is 75 years.
MacWorld while fun it may have been, was always a dying idea. The amount of money and headaches involved in doing it was just a sign of things to come. With so many other vendors pulling out of the show too due to the rough economy I'm sure was a sign for Apple to maybe do the same.
Besides, the amount of money paid to those union workers that work the convention is more akin to extortion. Try sweeping the floor of your booth or plugging in a lamp without being harassed by some $100/hr sweeper screaming to you for doing their job.
I guess Apple will just hold their own press events in the future?
I mean, it's not like we're in 1999 anymore, when COMDEX and NetWorld were around and populated by all the big names and such.
It may be an economoic decision, and if so, Apple should say so up front. Right now their press release makes it sound like they simply don't care any more about the customers. They know they can do whatever they want and people will bend over for more.
That's the way this news is being received based on the comments here, Arstechnica, and even the WSJ. Perception is everything and right now that is not very positive without Apple explaining their actions to a level to satisfy these offended loyal customers.
Damned straight. I can appreciate the business reasons for doing so but the timing and the way that this news was announced is a PR disaster.
The vast majority of the user base doesn't, won't, and never will attend MacWorld. Maybe Apple has better ideas on how to reach their real users and just not the fanatics who would never miss a show.
How overblown can you gents get?
Personally, they got it out of the way.
Having worked for one of these publishers, I saw first hand how they recycle information from issue to issue, simply changing the project instead of the techniques... go figure.
Apple has how many retail stores now? People can go there to and shop for a Mac and not have to drag the thing home via an airline that would charge for the baggage. The can go to the store to get some how to training, tech support, and shop for software and accessories. Now of course the Apple retail stores are not convenient to people in rural areas, but I have three within 20 minutes driving time and two more a bit farther.
Even not having an Apple retail store, or a computer store of any kind, handy to you is no longer much of a hindrance as long as you have internet access. You can read product reviews here at CNET or other websites and order stuff online.
Sure this means less swag - and no chance to spange a nice business trip at company expense, but seriously? It sure as hell beats the loud (in both sight and sound) gimmicks, adverts thinly disguised as "keynotes", and all the other crap that you get bombarded with at a trade show.
If that is what Apple relies on, good luck to them.
That's the funny part... the "bag of tricks" usually have a lot of time between them. OSX came out in 2000. The iPod came out in 2001. The Mac Mini came out in 2004/5 (or so). The Intel shift happened in 2006. The iPhone (and iPod Touch) came out in 2007. The Air came out almost a year ago. According to this particular macro-schedule, we shouldn't have anything brand new and ground-breaking coming out of apple until mid-2009 to early 2010.
(everything else in-between were merely updates... FFS...)
So, err, what's the basis here? :)
/P
Aside from the macworld..........I hope Steve Jobs is doing okay......I don't like him.....but I hope he is doing okay
But again like all decisions only time will tell if this is the right one or wrong one..........
I think Apple's fundamental reason for pulling out of Macworld Expo is that Apple wants to introduce new products on its own schedule, not when trade shows happen to occur.
Don't be surprised of Apple doesn't start their own annual trade show a'la Oracle Openworld. These events are money makers for those who run them. Why have some do-nothing publishing company make money off your brand?
Think about it. The annual "love fest" becomes a profit center for Apple rather than a cost center.
then he can be a zombie like all the other mac users out there.
reanimate him...
then he can be a zombie like all the other mac users out there.
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Find me one Mac that is part of a zombie bot net. Just one. Having trouble? Thought so.
You have the platforms wrong, it's the winblows apologists who are zombies. And I think humanssssss is dead, evidenced by the hissing noise made when trying to read that name.
he's not talking about computers you nit wit... he's suggesting that most mac users are mindless zombies who instead of feeding of brains, feed of whatever new iGadget Steve Jobs pops out to sell them.
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple just put Steve in front of a green screen from now on and did live web streams for future events that millions could watch and be part off. No conference centers to book, no plane travel, no press to deal with, and it will save loads of cash.
- by Brian December 16, 2008 4:02 PM PST
- Apple has been releasing poor products lately.
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- by jumpjetta December 16, 2008 4:27 PM PST
- Gee, I happen not to have had any major issues with many of the things you mention. Perhaps it's user error? Sure, electronics are complex and sometimes fail, as in the case of the HD of my Macbook Pro. But Apple took a walk-in Genius Bar appointment with me, told me it'd be 4-6 days for the repair, and called me back in two hours saying it was done. They'd already reloaded 10.5.5 on it and even replaced my slightly frayed power cord without telling me they would or me having to ask.
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- by Ilgaz December 16, 2008 5:09 PM PST
- Well jumpetta, as of current 10.5.6, my system still doesn't eject external USB HD on shutdown. It has horrible (exactly half) FPS performance on openGL compared to current Tiger, I keep seeing Apple doesn't have clue about their own log files (searching for asl.log in wrong path) etc. etc.
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- by gggg sssss December 16, 2008 5:25 PM PST
- My dell vostro and linksys base stationb have worked for a year with exactly NO FAILURES AT ALL. At half the price. LOL
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- by pizzalovr December 16, 2008 6:36 PM PST
- Gee, my Airport Extreme (square) and the 5 (round) we use at the church work just fine....with 6 pc and 3 mac laptops....
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- by Brian December 16, 2008 6:43 PM PST
- @jumpjetta:
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- by anilsudh December 16, 2008 9:10 PM PST
- Every piece of hardware I purchased from Apple in the last 3 years has worked and continues to work flawlessly. Talking about Airport Extreme and Airport Express, mine supports 2 Mac laptops, 1 windows laptop, 1 windows desktop, 1 networked backup drive, 2 iPhones, 1 iPod Touch, 1 Apple TV. Totally flawless. I had used linksys in the past and it was so poor. The wireless connections kept dropping every few minutes. Will never buy linksys ever again.
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- by kelmon December 17, 2008 2:43 AM PST
- @Brian
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- by Erictheruler1 December 17, 2008 10:33 AM PST
- What about the fact that if you load leopard and you happen to use Motion you can't anymore? $1200 for software that doesn't work right is Bull, and jumpjetta you can't blame apple issues on user error that is close-minded and kinda makes you look like an upset fanboy. every company has issues to think apple is perfect shows a flawed thought process. Apple needs to get it's Sh*T together. Apple tv's that don't play avi's come on they invented the avi. Leopard was a rippoff and now they want us to buy snow leopard for another 150 bucks. I Think I will be Xtorrenting that one they owe me for leopard... The really need to get it together. but it's still better than vista....
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (72 Comments)Let's face it, the release of Leopard angered allot of folks (myself included) with the countless issues.
Then there was MobileMe, the iPhone 3G and even the new Macbooks.
The fact that Snow Leopard will be the Leopard Apple originally wanted is no surprise that Apple has been going in the wrong direction.
Steve Jobs sets a deadline and ships the product -- ready or not!
Well, I am not happy with their latest products.
From the iMacs to the latest Macbooks, Apple screwed up royally!
Apple was clever with their ads in switching longtime PC users -- and with Vista, it really was THAT easy.
Microsoft can get their users back only IF they create a stable operating system.
As for Apple, the "switchers" are aching to switch back.
My Airport Extreme base station fails on a daily basis - does Apple care?
Well?
So perhaps you just need some training or something.
What makes me mad is, I understand Leopard works great for most (mostly Intel) users but there are people with serious problems out there. Every update, they install and see things not fixed or even worsened and they get blamed for "not knowing computers" by OTHER Apple users. This is going for a year now and it has to stop. No, Leopard doesn't work right and we didn't even remove languages yet alone hacking the OS. It was rushed for a meaningless **** race with MS Vista and we got hurt as result.
It's not "user error" when the new Macbooks don't have a Firewire port!
It's not "user error" when my Airport Extreme basestation fails to initialize, forcing a shutdown.
It's not "user error" when Mobile Me service is "not available" (I have a Mobile Me account).
It's not "user error" when the iPhone 3G does not work for many folks (I do not have an iPhone 3G).
It's not "user error" when Leopard came out with too many problems such as no printer or scanner support (from a great many users).
It's not "user error" at all, so please read before responding.
@gggg sssss:
My old Linksys router (not a wireless) is in my closet in case the Airport Extreme dies, but I agree with you that my next router will most likely be a Linksys (I agree on the price).
To be honest, I agree with quite a bit of this. None of Apple's recent products have been bug-free and I was not impressed with 10.5 on release (10.5.3 was when it got to a release product) and MobileMe. I also have an Airport Extreme Base Station and had to have one replaced under warranty (current one is fine, however). Still, I think you might be riding the hyperbole a bit too much there. The MacBook Pro that I bought back in November 2006 has been absolutely fine and the reports of issues with the current models hasn't suggested a widespread issue enough to worry about. Unless there is something widespread to concern myself with then I won't have any problem upgrading 2 laptops next year when Intel gets Core i7 processors into laptops.
The thing is, the decision to switch is not easy and it will take much more than Microsoft producing Windows 7. For starters, Windows needs competitive software and I've seen anything to suggest that things have improved enough such that I'd move back to the Windows platform and incur all the expense that this would entail. Microsoft needs Apple to slip up and so far all they have done is wobble a bit.