Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 16th Dec 2008 23:17 UTC
Apple In a move that will surely revive the tiring rumour that Steve Jobs has serious health issues, Apple has announced that not only will they back out of MacWorld San Francisco , but also that Steve Jobs will not hold his usual keynote address at the coming MacWorld event this January - which will be the last MacWorld attended by Apple. The keynote will instead be delivered by Phil Schiller. Surprising? Hardly.
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Terrible idea by Apple
by Auzy on Wed 17th Dec 2008 00:35 UTC
Auzy
Member since:
2008-01-20

I worked at an Applecentre, and this is a BIG mistake on Apple's part.

The reality has been that part of Apple's success has been getting people excited, and thats what Macworld/WWDC does. Macworld always boosted sales because people got a better insight into details of products that aren't immediately obvious otherwise. Customers never liked hanging around listening to a 20 minute talk about Aperture, and the customers who would have liked to, would have just listened to the keynote. Without these extra insights, many salespeople may lose touch of the features in many products, and Apple resellers wont get the opportunity to intermingle with many 3rd party product designers and get their word out.

Apple's stocks probably aren't going to like this announcement, and I am pretty happy that I'm not working at the apple reseller anymore, because with this announcement gone, many users wont hear about major new products in many cases (because they wait for macworld, and see them, but if they are staggered instead differently, they might not).

To me this announcement actually shows that Apple management is possibly losing touch a bit with the community. And especially now that the Apple community is encouraged to get together less, I'd say a large side effect will be that there will be much less people who are apple fanatics around, which will pull down sales even more.

Edited 2008-12-17 00:38 UTC

RE: Terrible idea by Apple
by Wondercool on Wed 17th Dec 2008 03:06 in reply to "Terrible idea by Apple"
Wondercool Member since:
2005-07-08

Fully agree with you, Apple needs MacWorld.
But I think that Apple knows that.

So there are only 2 possible reasons why Jobs is not showing up:
1) Jobs health is failing
2) Apple has nothing big enough to announce.
The problem with the last 3 years for Apple is that the expectations are hyper inflated, this is a way to bring the anticipation down and buy more time for some real new products.

PS My money is on both...

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 1

RE[2]: Terrible idea by Apple
by ari-free on Wed 17th Dec 2008 05:30 in reply to "RE: Terrible idea by Apple"
ari-free Member since:
2007-01-22

then why would they say this will be the *last* macworld?

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE[2]: Terrible idea by Apple
by TownDrunk on Wed 17th Dec 2008 14:39 in reply to "RE: Terrible idea by Apple"
TownDrunk Member since:
2005-11-28

"Apple needs MacWorld"

I think its the other way around... MacWorld needs Apple.

Anyone have attendance data for MacWorld over the last few years?

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE: Terrible idea by Apple
by Adurbe on Wed 17th Dec 2008 09:43 in reply to "Terrible idea by Apple"
Adurbe Member since:
2005-07-06

Why do apple need to pay a small fortune to IDG to attend Macworld?

Apple has been calling 'Special Events' for iPod announcements for YEARS now.

They have a new product, Apple send an invite to a select few reporters when THEY are ready and the press have come swarming! (who then reprint the news everywhere for free)

edit: tried to use english grammer this time :-p

Edited 2008-12-17 10:02 UTC

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 3