Apple announces its last year at Macworld Expo, no Jobs keynote (http://www.macworld.com/article/137587/2008/12/macworldexpo.html?lsrc=top_1). “... 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.”

I'd say that pretty well drives the proverbial nail into the coffin. Macworld w/o Apple - that's an oxymoron . I think Steve underestimates how many macpeople await those applefairs .

Makes sense. Trade shows are things of the past now-a-days. They used to be to network with people and find out information about new technology before the internet was what it is today.

However, I'm just wondering why Steve Jobs wouldn't do one last keynote. Just for old times sake. Apple must not have anything earthshaking to introduce.

As other people said, trade shows are becoming very expensive for companies, and with the power of the internet, maybe those expenses aren't really needed anymore.

That being said, Macworld without Apple... I think it's obvious there will be no Macworld anymore in a couple of years if this continues.

I also don't get why Steve Jobs wouldn't do the keynote, especially if it's the last. I can't think of another reason than his health...

And as much as I praise the genius of Steve Jobs and what he has done for the computer industry and the digital music (and now cell-phone) markets, I hope that maybe another CEO for Apple could also bring back some focus on the pro-apps, matte screens and firewire, ... . I love Apple's design and user-friendlyness, I think it deserves all the hype it gets, but if I have to choose, I rather put functionality above design.
I think Apple did it the other way around with their latest Cinema Display update, and the notebook update.
(Yes, I know this news means nothing about Steve Jobs retiring, just thinking ahead).

It's going to be a testing year for Apple's Pro-Apps, in theory the release of Snow Leopard should trigger a flurry of new releases like FCS3, one theory is that major updates have been slowed because of re-writes to all the major apps

I hope this is right as their recent hardware releases are not inspiring much confidence for the future of their Pro-Video efforts.

I have a feeling Apple is preparing itself to being a company unwedded to Steve Jobs due to his health. I have no doubt Steve Jobs is still doing okay now. But I think Apple needs to prepare itself for moving beyond Jobs over the next 5 years and this is the first move in that direction. Plus it makes financial sense to no longer put so much money into trade shows as they are no longer as relevant as they used to be.

Having attended MWSF for the last few years, I can attest to the fact that it is indeed a shrinking show... and MWNY has been gone for several years now (since 2004, iirc).

they get over 3 million visitor/week to their retail stores, while only 50,000 people attended macworld in 2008. that doesn't count all the folks who tracked the keynote online, but still, when you consider the price of doing business at these big trade shows, it's not their best bang for the buck.

still, kind of seems like an end of an era in America's love affair with gadgets...like the end of the great world's fairs back at the turn of the 19th-century. millenial optimism has its cycles, and we are coming to the end of this one, i think.

Oh I still love gadgets but I no longer have to wait for the extended lead times of magazines or the expense of attending a tradeshow to get the gist of many products.

The Internet is killing print publishing (as it should really, who needs so much flammable dead tree laying around?) and with the internet press release announcing your product worldwide in 24 hours the trade show becomes a dinosaur that just got hit by a asteroid.

Apple was becoming hamstrung in product announcements by the tradeshows. Everyone expects a big announcement at each trade show. That has to be cumbersome. I'd rather they ship a new Final Cut Studio regardless of the announce dates proximity to NAB. I'd rather see Logic Studio announced when it's ready rather than wait for NAAM or AES or Muskimesse.

Ship the products when they're ready for purchasing so that we can evaluate them quickly and make a purchase or hold. We're all busy.

I wonder when we're going to finally see the ground-up rewrite of Final Cut Pro?

that's the title of this take on the situation in wired

Where Is Steve Jobs? | Gadget Lab from Wired.com (http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/where-is-steve.html)