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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Apple pulls out of Macworld Expo ... so what?

By | December 17, 2008, 5:58am PST

Summary: For some reason I’ve received a couple of dozen emails from people (some from readers, some from journo types looking for a quote) wanting to know what I think of Apple pulling out of the Macworld Expo after next year. Well, here’s my take on why Apple’s decided to do this …

For some reason I’ve received a couple of dozen emails from people (some from readers, some from journo types looking for a quote) wanting to know what I think of Apple pulling out of the Macworld Expo after next year. Well, here’s my take on why Apple’s decided to do this …

  • Tradeshows are dead. OK, not actually dead, but terminally ill. I know that some people disagree, but the reach of tradeshows compared to the reach of say the web is tiny. Sure, there are exceptions, but on the whole the era of tradeshow is over.
  • The Macworld Expo wasn’t an Apple thing. Macworld Expo is run by IDG World Expo. Apple likes to have a lot of control over events it puts on and chances are that Macworld Expo didn’t offer Apple enough control.
  • Apple’s grown beyond the cult of users that flock to tradeshows and hang on every bit of info coming out of Apple. To frame my statement read what Jason Snell of Macworld had to say:
    “I’m stunned that Apple has taken a 25-year-old event that has been the single best meeting place for the entire community of users and vendors of Apple-related products and treated it like a piece of garbage stuck to the bottom of its shoe.”
    Eh? “The single best meeting place for the entire community of users” … really? Mac’s now a mainstream product and while it might have once needed to maintain a presence at tradeshows, those day are over. A Mac or an iPod is something you buy in a store. It’s not a cult or a religion or a sports team. You exchange money for goods. Nothing deeper than that.
  • If Apple is getting 3.5 million people through the retail stores every week (figure from Apple’s press release) then that seems like a far better place foe Apple to communicate with users.
  • Apple is trying to shift the focus away from Jobs. Health issues or not, no CEO comes with a certificate of immortality, and Apple is (or maybe Jobs himself is …) trying to break the “Apple = Jobs, Jobs = Apple” illusion.
    [UPDATE: Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster seems to agree with me that this could be "the beginning of a shift in leadership roles" at Apple.]

Thoughts? Anyone here going to miss Macworld Expo?

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Apple Inc., Macworld Expo, Recruitment & Selection, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Apple pulls out of Macworld Expo ... so what?
bettb Updated - 19th Dec 2008
Exactly. So What! I have been a long time attendee of
MacWorld Expo SF, but had already decided that it was a
waste of time and had only planned to use a free pass to
access the exhibit floor in 2009.

That decision was made last January after being
disappointed in the training sessions and standing in line
for the keynote for HOURS, only to be told when reaching
the door, that no more seats were available and had not
been available for some time. IDG has had a cavalier
attitude about the show attendees for several years now,
and I had had enough.

Well, I guess Apple has too. So be it. Life goes on. Trade
shows are so 20th Century!
View in thread
0 Votes
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Apple or Jobs is...
mrtuba9 17th Dec 2008
trying to break the ?Apple = Jobs, Jobs = Apple?
illusion.

I think THAT is going to be their biggest challenge,
and that this is just the first move in that
direction.
0 Votes
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RE: Apple pulls out of Macworld Expo ... so what?
nova81426 17th Dec 2008
Well Adrian, for once I agree with you. I think it would also
be important to add that Apple probably doesn't like having
their product release schedule dictated by another company's
trade show. Now they won't have to rush to get something
together every January. They can announce their products at
their special events whenever they want.

But I agree that your other points are just as valid.
0 Votes
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Timing
Userama 17th Dec 2008
Another piece I've seen makes the point that the new-product
announcement timing in January isn't good. It's better to unveil the new
stuff before the end-of-year shopping season, not after.

Makes sense to me.
0 Votes
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Regrettably, I think you're correct on all counts
Marcos El Malo 17th Dec 2008
I think you pretty much nailed it. I say regrettably because
MacWorld has been such fun over the years, especially for
us ******** koolaid drinking faithful. In my experience,
there really was something different about MacWorld than
other tradeshows.

But without Apple's participation, Macworld is dead.
Without Steve giving the keynote, I doubt I'll even attend
this year. Was it only two years ago that they had record
levels of attendance?

Also, nova makes a good point about product release
schedules as an additional reason why Apple would want
to drop out.
0 Votes
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stupid filter software
Marcos El Malo 17th Dec 2008
i forgot that it filters ******** (hard corps).

hard core
har dcore
ha rdcore
0 Votes
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I agree
Stuka 17th Dec 2008
As I posted in another article here "The apple is dead again, pass the cider one), trade shows are dead. And they are no longer worth the mass amounts of money it cost to attend them.

Also, Apple has been fine with putting on its own events when it does other announcements, or WWDC. Apple will still be able to do their product releases like they have been, it will just cost them a whole lot less time and money.
0 Votes
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Spot on with the point...
Sleeper Service 17th Dec 2008
...about Apple beign a mainstream corporation.

Sorry fanboys; they don't care about you and, to be honest, they probably never did.
0 Votes
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Right
frgough 17th Dec 2008
because the best way for a corporation to grow sales is to not care about customer loyalty.

No wonder we're going socialist in this country.
0 Votes
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Oh they care about loyalty...
Sleeper Service 17th Dec 2008
...which is why the products and services are pretty good.

But the 'community' of Apple fanboys? Nah. Just a launchpad, nothing more.
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Hype
jshaw4343 17th Dec 2008
The whole point of the expo is to hype up Apple and it's products. It's a forum for them to launch major products and generate a ton of buzz. Just look at what was released during the last three expos and the amount of press and overall interest in Apple that was generated - Intel Mac, iPhone, and the Air. So I have a hard time buying the arguement that the event is insignificant and the era is over. It sure doesn't jive with the fact that attendance keeps increasing year over year.
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Agree
Badgered 17th Dec 2008
Just look at what was released during the last three expos and the amount of press and overall interest in Apple that was generated - Intel Mac, iPhone, and the Air.

The amount of press coverage at these "events" over new Apple products is crazy. Considering all the free publicity, can they really afford not to attend?
0 Votes
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These "Events"
Marcos El Malo 18th Dec 2008
I think that's the point. Once upon a time, Apple needed
MWSF as a platform to get media and the public's
attention. Now that Apple is such a huge success, they can
host their own events to announce and unveil products,
and they get plenty of attention. They can control their
own events; not so much with MWSF, which belongs to IDG.
And if there is one thing we know about Steve Jobs, it's
that he is a control freak.

MWSF has outlived it's usefulness to Apple. It's a pity
for the larger user community based around Apple. There
is still the World Wide Developers' Conference (WWDC), but
that's for the people that make Mac and iPhone software.
Who knows? Maybe Apple is planning to add an end user
component to the WWDC. Maybe that's why they hired that Podolny guy from Yale. Yeah, idle speculation . . . but we
still don't know what Apple University is really going to be
about.
0 Votes
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In recent times
Bill4 17th Dec 2008
Jobs does not = Apple but Jobs = successful Apple.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: Apple pulls out of Macworld Expo ... so what?
bettb Updated - 19th Dec 2008
Exactly. So What! I have been a long time attendee of
MacWorld Expo SF, but had already decided that it was a
waste of time and had only planned to use a free pass to
access the exhibit floor in 2009.

That decision was made last January after being
disappointed in the training sessions and standing in line
for the keynote for HOURS, only to be told when reaching
the door, that no more seats were available and had not
been available for some time. IDG has had a cavalier
attitude about the show attendees for several years now,
and I had had enough.

Well, I guess Apple has too. So be it. Life goes on. Trade
shows are so 20th Century!

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