The Macworld Expo is run by IDG, the company which publishes MacWorld, Computer World, PC World, Network World, GamePro and numerous other major tech magazines. As you might suspect, this isn't particularly good news for them. The question is... is it good news for Apple?
I can understand some of the business reasons for this, as Apple is always stuck playing the expectation games around their keynote, which can play havoc with their stock price. It also sets them up for performing to a rigid deadline, and punishes them if they need time to get their products ready for the market.
And yet, I still feel something will be missing if Apple doesn't have a convention they participate in. I'm not Applecentric in my choice of products, but I still watch those Jobs keynotes religiously, and have a lot of interest in the latest cool things that they roll out with, in large part because Apple leads the way in creating, redefining, refining, and reinventing entire products and product categories.
So... how will they out-do the huge PR hype effect that the tradeshow announcements have on their product sales? They do know that Steve Jobs has real "star power" for us geeks, and that many of us want to see him out there in the flesh, giving big presentations and talking on a big stage, right?!
To paraphrase Voltaire, "If MacWorld did not exist, it would be necessary for
Right now, it kinda feels like there's a big hole in the Apple cosmos, and that all the stars -- and the company stock price -- are going to fall down from the sky. And so, we kinda expect Steve Jobs to fly in on a deus ex machina, to tell us how he's going to make us even happier than we were before.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, soon after this announcement was made, someone made a joke press release, saying that Apple has announced the end of Christmas.
Well, given all the great things that Steve Jobs has brought the world in early January... it really does feel like it, doesn't it?
