This is huge! Apple stock may take a nose dive tomorrow.
Steve Jobs is not going to deliver this year's Macworld keynote. We suspected this was coming. But there's more: Apple has confirmed that this is their last Macworld ever. UPDATED 5:30PM
Instead of Jobs, delivering this year's supposedly final Macworld keynote is Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP of worldwide product marketing.
While we have confirmed this information with Apple, what this means for WWDC or town halls is unknown. We had predicted that Steve Jobs was preparing his farewell following his highly de-centered introduction of the new MacBooks. At the very, very best, this is another step in that direction, preparing the world for an Apple without Steve. We don't really want to think about the worst.
But we have to. This sudden, dramatic announcement says to us, loudly and unfortunately clearly, that Jobs' health has taken a significant dive since his appearance introducing the new MacBooks. Logically, if at all possible, they would structure the Macworld keynote like the MacBook event—a brief, headlining appearance Jobs, followed by a team effort announcing new products—if for no other reason than to dispel the alarm that's already shaking the internet, but also to make the transition even smoother.
There are other possibilities besides illness, we suppose. Lack of product, possible, but unlikely (and why wouldn't Jobs show up to announce how excellent their non-announcement is?) A decline in the confidence and important of Macworld? Also possible, but let's remember this is where Apple launched the iPhone, its most important product since the iPod, and this past year, the MacBook Air, which set the tone for its notebooks for the rest of the year. There really isn't a good reason Apple would do it this way, unless they had no choice.
So why not announce a full retirement, if he is too ill to continue—a possibility if he's too ill to show up on stage? This is more mysterious, and uncertainties tend to be more troubling than truths, even hard ones (though the Apple stock hasn't quite felt the impact, only down 5 points in after hours trading as of this moment).
And why Phil Schiller? Why not the man most likely to wear the crown, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who resembles Jobs more than anyone else at Apple? There are far more questions than answers at this point, and we will probably have to wait until Macworld to get them, unless the traditionally ironclad secrecy at Apple manages to break down in this apparent crisis moment.
Perhaps this is the real announcement at this year's Macworld, the one everyone knew was coming, though it doesn't make any less shocking: Apple's final hurrah, in more ways than one.
Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld
CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year's Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple's last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco's Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.
Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple's Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.
Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
http://gizmodo.com/5111773/apple-announces-last-year-at-macworld-no-steve-jobs-keynote
Steve Jobs is not going to deliver this year's Macworld keynote. We suspected this was coming. But there's more: Apple has confirmed that this is their last Macworld ever. UPDATED 5:30PM
Instead of Jobs, delivering this year's supposedly final Macworld keynote is Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP of worldwide product marketing.
While we have confirmed this information with Apple, what this means for WWDC or town halls is unknown. We had predicted that Steve Jobs was preparing his farewell following his highly de-centered introduction of the new MacBooks. At the very, very best, this is another step in that direction, preparing the world for an Apple without Steve. We don't really want to think about the worst.
But we have to. This sudden, dramatic announcement says to us, loudly and unfortunately clearly, that Jobs' health has taken a significant dive since his appearance introducing the new MacBooks. Logically, if at all possible, they would structure the Macworld keynote like the MacBook event—a brief, headlining appearance Jobs, followed by a team effort announcing new products—if for no other reason than to dispel the alarm that's already shaking the internet, but also to make the transition even smoother.
There are other possibilities besides illness, we suppose. Lack of product, possible, but unlikely (and why wouldn't Jobs show up to announce how excellent their non-announcement is?) A decline in the confidence and important of Macworld? Also possible, but let's remember this is where Apple launched the iPhone, its most important product since the iPod, and this past year, the MacBook Air, which set the tone for its notebooks for the rest of the year. There really isn't a good reason Apple would do it this way, unless they had no choice.
So why not announce a full retirement, if he is too ill to continue—a possibility if he's too ill to show up on stage? This is more mysterious, and uncertainties tend to be more troubling than truths, even hard ones (though the Apple stock hasn't quite felt the impact, only down 5 points in after hours trading as of this moment).
And why Phil Schiller? Why not the man most likely to wear the crown, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, who resembles Jobs more than anyone else at Apple? There are far more questions than answers at this point, and we will probably have to wait until Macworld to get them, unless the traditionally ironclad secrecy at Apple manages to break down in this apparent crisis moment.
Perhaps this is the real announcement at this year's Macworld, the one everyone knew was coming, though it doesn't make any less shocking: Apple's final hurrah, in more ways than one.
Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld
CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year's Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple's last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco's Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.
Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple's Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.
Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.
(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
http://gizmodo.com/5111773/apple-announces-last-year-at-macworld-no-steve-jobs-keynote
