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Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King
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Can you have Macworld without Jobs and Apple? We're going to find out

By | December 16, 2008, 1:50pm PST

Apple said Tuesday that this year will be its final Macworld and Philip Shiller–not Steve Jobs–will deliver the keynote.

A few instant thoughts following Apple’s statement:

  • Apple just killed Macworld as a tradeshow.
  • The rumors about the state of Jobs’ health are likely to ramp up again.
  • Apple doesn’t have any major product launches planned amid a weak economy.

Wall Street appears to be pondering the second bullet point.

aaplchart11.png

In a statement Apple said:

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.

Schiller, senior vice president of Apple product marketing, may be a fine fellow, but he’s clearly no Jobs.

Rumors aside, Apple may have just signaled the death of Macworld. Without Jobs’ keynote why would you show up? Apple said it is cutting back on its trade shows and they “have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers.”

In many respects, Apple is correct. Apple produces its own events and buzz and still has big powwows like the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

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Topics

Job, Steve Jobs, Apple Inc., Macworld, Marketing Research, Product Marketing, Vertical Industries, Benefits, Healthcare, Recruitment & Selection, Marketing, Enterprise Software, Software, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Disclosure

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn’t hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

For daily updates, follow Larry on Twitter.

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Shows have become too expensive
Ken_z 16th Dec 2008
It's not cheap to present at any major
trade show and maybe that is what needs
to change.

Apple tended to benefit more than most
companies from these shows simply
because of the huge amount of
speculation about what would be
announced - and then the exposure of
what was announced.

And MWSF was the setting for the mother
of all Keynotes - Jobs presenting the
iPhone.

Maybe some city will wise up and decide
that it is in their interests to sponsor a
major show, to bring in visitors (and their
money) for a week and to have exposure
to executives of some major companies.
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
Apple has no need for Macworld anymore
GuidingLight 16th Dec 2008
they served their Cupertino masters well, but alas, tis time to sacrifice the pawns as they have serverd their purpose, and Macworld is expendable, the Kingdom is not.
0 Votes
+ -
Its a giant waste of money
Kaiwai 16th Dec 2008
Look at the economic climate - look at the cost, and look at
whether one will make the money back in new sales because
of MacWorld. It doesn't add up, it has never added up
anyway.

WWDC + Consumer shimdig each year - thats all that is
required; and in between have webcasts of new product
launches as required.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Can you have Macworld without Jobs and Apple? We're going to find out
gregory.dworak@... 16th Dec 2008
I used to go to MacWorld when they had them in Boston. It was always one of the highlights of my summer and it gave me an excuse to hang out in a very cool city for a few days. I will miss Steve Jobs keynotes, I always looked forward to what Steve had to say, he never disappointed and put on a good show. I for one am saddened to see the MacWorld Expo go. The trade shows were a lot of fun with lots of good seminars, demo's and learning shops.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Can you have Macworld without Jobs and Apple? We're going to find out
AppBeacon 16th Dec 2008
No you can't. And yes "Apple just killed Macworld as a
tradeshow". It is dead after this year. All the big vendors are
already pulling out. Now that the namesake is gone as well,
no one else will show up.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Can you have Macworld without Jobs and Apple? We're going to find out
roger andre 16th Dec 2008
I think other types of events will spring up out of this, maybe this will test the metal of the mac enthusiast and we'll see lots of smaller mac type things going on.
0 Votes
+ -
Macworld Mini?
AllKnowingAllSeeing 16th Dec 2008
happy
0 Votes
+ -
Shows have become too expensive
Ken_z 16th Dec 2008
It's not cheap to present at any major
trade show and maybe that is what needs
to change.

Apple tended to benefit more than most
companies from these shows simply
because of the huge amount of
speculation about what would be
announced - and then the exposure of
what was announced.

And MWSF was the setting for the mother
of all Keynotes - Jobs presenting the
iPhone.

Maybe some city will wise up and decide
that it is in their interests to sponsor a
major show, to bring in visitors (and their
money) for a week and to have exposure
to executives of some major companies.

Join the conversation!

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