BusinessWeek’s Peter Burrows jumps on Jobs’ health right out of the gate. Maybe Jobs is sick, maybe he isn’t. The truth of the matter is that Macworld just doesn’t make sense for Apple anymore. Burrows doesn’t get it.
Here we have a company with $27 billion in the bank, that gets massive, global exposure from a talk that rarely lasts two hours. If Apple can’t see the ROI in Macworld, what company can justify the tradeshow bill?
Apple gets “massive, global exposure” when it sneezes. They’re the perfect example of a company that doesn’t need a trade show. Why go to all this trouble when all people have to do to learn more about your products is wander into one of your stores or open up a newspaper?
It’s still a sad moment for the Macalope. Macworld has been the place to get to know other Applephiles for 20 years. He won’t miss the conference, but he will miss the partying.
If Apple was thinking of ditching Macworld, then why didn’t they say so earlier? Or even in the keynote itself?
This announcement, now, seems forced.
I think John Gruber nailed it with his article of 6 years ago:
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/12/16/exposed
Macalope, you seem to know the Gruber. Please pass my compliments.
Remember that MacWorld Expo is not an Apple-sponsored event; to some extent, it has been an obligation forced on them by an outside party. They don’t have an obligation to time their announcement for the benefit of a show they don’t control.
Well, as much as Apple nerds would like it to be, Macworld keynotes weren’t about talking to consumers as much as they were talking to reporters. And to draw a crowd of reporters, Apple just needs to send out a postcard with an obscured picture of an Apple product. What’s the point of a whole show?