Apple, Macworld and the end of Christmas

So the economy is in the tank, Christmas is here and Apple drops the bomb that Steve Jobs will not give the Keynote at Macworld 2009, bummer! I will admit I am a little perturbed about Jobs not giving the Keynote at Macworld but I am not surprised at the move. For one the economy has changed the way companies are doing business. Yes, despite what some Tech pundits say Apple is not immune to the US economy being in a recession. For one the environment has changed from 1985 when the first Macworld Expo started in San Francisco.

Apple does not have to worry about reaching millions through a trade show. They have largely distanced themselves from trade shows the last few years, first it was Macworld Boston, then NAB and now Macworld SF. Apple has its retail stores to display its products, plus you can pretty much go into any Best Buy and buy a Mac although the shopping experience in a Best Buy Apple center pretty much leaves much to be desired, but I digress that is for another post.

Steve Jobs is the ultimate sales person, he can delight and awe the crowd for pretty much every product he has debut at Macworld since coming back as CEO in 1997. He brought the company back from the doldrums of failure, to a company that is the envy of many. So why not go out with a bang. Perhaps Job's is so done with Macworld and its managing partner IDG that he doesn't even want to show up at all after the announcement that this is the last year for Apple to give a keynote. Phil Schiller can answer all of the questions by the news media and Tech pundits, plus Job's can sit in his office at 1 Infinite Loop or his house and do what ever he does on a day to day basis.

So my final thought is this. I no longer have anything to look forward to every year in January where Apple gives its own version of Mac Christmas. I am sure they will still have special events throughout the year that will bring us new products, probably with much less lead time for the media and tech pundits such as myself to wonder what is next. Apple can release products on its own schedule it doesn't have to watch its stock drop like a ton of bricks in early January when Apple fanboys don't get their wet dreams fulfilled. They also don't have to listen to the clamoring for one more thing.

I will admit the last few years at Macworld have largely been sort of a let down. Besides the iPhone two years ago. The Macbook Air is a niche product which didn't reach the majority of Apple buyers as a product that you have to have. Two years ago brought the Macbook Pro as well as the new iMac with intel processors. Which were pretty decent. My favorite Macworld memory has to be when Jobs would do the one more thing. Macbooks were introduced months after Macworld and have become the best selling notebook ever. So what do you think, do you have any Macworld memories that you are fond of? What do you think of Apple largely going away from large Tech Shows? Post your comments below.