I’ve been going to MacWorld Expos since before they were MacWorld Expos. As both an Apple fan and as an exhibitor, I’ve been to around 15 expos.
MacWorld Expo 2009 is the last Apple will attend. To make it even worse, Phil Schiller will be giving the keynote, not Steve.
I like Phil, but he is no Steve.
Apple seems to think that they get enough eyeballs via the Apple Store and the website. Maybe so, but Stevenotes were epic. Stevenotes are why many went to MacWorld.
Stevenotes got Apple on the local news here in Portland, OR. I think Apple may have underestimated how powerful Stevenotes are to the company.
However, regardless of Steve’s current health, he’s not going to be around forever. Maybe now is the time to shake things up. The economy is in the dumps, so of the Philnote tanks, or Apple sees some darker days, they can blame it on the economy while they re-tool things internally.
Only time will tell, but I for one will miss the Stevenotes.
Along with the lack of a Stevenote, there will be no Apple in 2010. Adobe and others have already pulled out of the show.
My gut tells me that 2009 will be the last MacWorld Expo.
Hi Steve,
I’m sorry to see Apple leave MacWorld Expo too. They’ve been edging out of this for quite awhile. There was that MacWorld New York/Boston fiasco, and now no MacWorld Paris and Japan. We knew that San Francisco was not far behind.
Some people say that conventions and show booths are “so 20th century” (although 10 will get you 20, that Apple participates more with the CES shows in Las Vegas). Also, since Apple now has a growing number of Apple retail stores, it’s no longer necessary for them to get the word out about their products with keynote speeches at MacWorld. They’re right there at the mall to look at. Finally, Apple is more about the iPod and iPhone now, and less about the Macintosh computer.
The Macintosh community/cult that kept the Macintosh platform alive during the hard times, who would go to these shows, were able to get reinvigorated by the keynotes. I know that it’s expensive and time consuming, but MacWorld was mostly for the Macintosh community and I’m really sorry to see that go away.
Steve will still be doing Apple official events like he has been for some time.