Apple Had Long Planned to Leave Macworld

MacRumors · Dec 17, 2008, 03:48 PM

As more reactions come in, Apple's stock has dropped in the setting of downgrades by at least one financial analyst from Oppenheimer & Co. Businessweek's Arik Hesseldahl hopes that this might mean that Apple could show up at CES, though this would go against Apple's reasoning that trade shows are simply less important.

Gizmodo reports that Apple had been planning to get out of Macworld for a long time.

Quote:

They almost quit in 2002, but about two years ago I was sharing some wine with a friend from Apple and he told me: "We are going to phase out all trade shows". "Even MacWorld?," I asked. "Yes," he said, "MacWorld will go too. I don't know when, but it will."

Readers may remember that Apple pulled out of Macworld Boston in 2002 due to disagreements with the show's organizer IDG. The Macworld Boston show was cancelled soon after.

Article Link: Apple Had Long Planned to Leave Macworld

Tallest Skil · Dec 17, 2008, 03:50 PM

Should have asked him about WWDC, too. Missed opportunity right there...

T'hain Esh Kelch · Dec 17, 2008, 03:51 PM

Gotta love it. One of the major papers here in Denmark just posted an article on their webpage stating that "Steve Jobs is dying"..

O_O

Gotta love rumors. But this Steves health thing is getting out of hand.

themoonisdown09 · Dec 17, 2008, 03:52 PM

As long as they still have keynotes for product releases, I really don't care if it happens at Macworld or whenever they want.

ilfn143 · Dec 17, 2008, 03:53 PM

maybe psystar will have a booth there

Dmac77 · Dec 17, 2008, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilfn143

maybe psystar will have a booth there

That must be what pissed Steve off

Don

DMann · Dec 17, 2008, 04:00 PM

This was to be expected. Apple likely felt exploited by IDG, and felt even more so when requested concessions weren't met. WWDC is Apple's event, not a trade show, so it will likely continue along the same line as "Special Events" do.

schneb · Dec 17, 2008, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilfn143

maybe psystar will have a booth there

Caught me by surprise. Thanks for the chuckle.

Rudy Pedraza takes the stage in black turtleneck and jeans.

"We have some great news regarding our litigation efforts. No new hardware, just a lot of good lawyers lent to us from a fellow admirer."

Dmac77 · Dec 17, 2008, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Should have asked him about WWDC, too. Missed opportunity right there...

I think WWDC will be safe. It's run by Apple, and if I'm not mistaken, they actually turn a profit on it each year.

Don

Peace · Dec 17, 2008, 03:55 PM

This reasoning makes no sense considering Apple already had the biggest booths set up for this years MWSF.. If they were getting out why would they have the largest presence there ?.

stukdog · Dec 17, 2008, 03:58 PM

I see Macworld Boston pointed to quite often as the future of MWSF. That may be true, but I will say one thing. The Mac is much more popular now than it was in 2002. MUCH more.

I could see MWSF just scaled down but still acting as a yearly meet up of Mac vendors and users.

alphaod · Dec 17, 2008, 04:01 PM

Apple has everything planned out don't they?

Damn this is just Apple wanting control of their own events. Kind of selfish methinks.

Tallest Skil · Dec 17, 2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alphaod

Apple has everything planned out don't they?

Damn this is just Apple wanting control of their own events. Kind of selfish methinks.

The adjective you're looking for is Jobsian.

DMann · 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alphaod

Apple has everything planned out don't they?

Damn this is just Apple wanting control of their own events. Kind of selfish methinks.

Or perhaps they were tired of the exploitation and lack of appreciation. Aside from the iPhone expo (2007), most January events have been highly criticized for lack of expected products and living up to hype. People held out buying during the holidays because of this event. Dropping the MW Expo will bring a level of sanity and equilibrium for their product announcements to some extent.

ebrunn · Dec 17, 2008, 04:00 PM

lol at downgrading a stock over this. Major buying opportunity if it continues to fall.

DMann · Dec 17, 2008, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

This reasoning makes no sense considering Apple already had the biggest booths set up for this years MWSF.. If they were getting out why would they have the largest presence there ?.

Go out on a high note, whenever possible.

Peace · Dec 17, 2008, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DMann

Go out on a high note, whenever possible.

If you were going out on a high note you'd have Steve Jobs there.

DMann · Dec 17, 2008, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

If you were going out on a high note you'd have Steve Jobs there.

And he was planning to be there, until the apparent rift. Besides, he just might make a surprise appearance.

RobertD63 · Dec 17, 2008, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

This reasoning makes no sense considering Apple already had the biggest booths set up for this years MWSF.. If they were getting out why would they have the largest presence there ?.

I thought they had the largest presence in all of the expos the attend?

Chaszmyr · Dec 17, 2008, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Should have asked him about WWDC, too. Missed opportunity right there...

WWDC isn't a tradeshow, and I think it's highly unlikely to be cancelled. It serves as an opportunity for Apple to reach out to developers, promote development, and attempt to improve the quality of software coming to Apple's platforms.

With that said, Apple may or may not continue to have keynote events at WWDCs, but I think it is likely that they will for two reasons. One, it increases attendance which helps with the aforementioned things. Two, Apple schedules WWDC itself, and it's not always at the same time every year, so Apple can schedule it to correspond with product launches.

Infrared · Dec 17, 2008, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaszmyr

WWDC isn't a tradeshow, and I think it's highly unlikely to be cancelled. It serves as an opportunity for Apple to reach out to developers [...]

... and grab their wallets!

nick9191 · Dec 17, 2008, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Should have asked him about WWDC, too. Missed opportunity right there...

WWDC is not a trade show. It's a developer conference held by Apple. I doubt that will go, it is important for developers.

MacsRgr8 · Dec 17, 2008, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick9191

WWDC is not a trade show. It's a developer conference held by Apple. I doubt that will go, it is important for developers.

Agreed.
But I think we might find out that a keynote speech from Steve could be his last there too.
I know we shouldn't speculate about his health, and I know that every source is all claiming that Apple is denying everything related to his health... but be honest, he looks in bad shape. If he were your dad, you would be concerned... I can't help feeling like that.
Also the major denials about his health.... one thing in politics: don't believe anything until it's officially denied.

I also think that Apple is quite late in giving this statement, so close to MacWorld.

austinfd · Dec 17, 2008, 06:59 PM

For me this is a little upsetting because now Apple holds ALL the cards when it comes to product releases. Sure, things have been creeping this way for some time, but until this week, we could count on MWSF to be a launchpad for some new products.

Now Apple is free to update and release at their whim. Good for them, but sucks for the consumers who now have to guess that the product they buy won't be upstaged by something at some unkown date.

Yeah, yeah, updates and obsolescence are all part of the deal, I know. But in my case, I just came back from living abroad for 2 years and decided to wait on buying my iPhone because MAYBE there will be an update in January. If this was the year Apple pulled out of MW, I would be left guessing.

That may be fine. A 16GB iPhone is probably sufficient. However, today, I have some power to buy or wait, becase MW is a reliable place to expect new things. After this, the customers are at the mercy to Apple product refreshes.

DMann · Dec 17, 2008, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by austinfd

For me this is a little upsetting because now Apple holds ALL the cards when it comes to product releases. Sure, things have been creeping this way for some time, but until this week, we could count on MWSF to be a launchpad for some new products.

Now Apple is free to update and release at their whim. Good for them, but sucks for the consumers who now have to guess that the product they buy won't be upstaged by something at some unkown date.

Yeah, yeah, updates and obsolescence are all part of the deal, I know. But in my case, I just came back from living abroad for 2 years and decided to wait on buying my iPhone because MAYBE there will be an update in January. If this was the year Apple pulled out of MW, I would be left guessing.

That may be fine. A 16GB iPhone is probably sufficient. However, today, I have some power to buy or wait, becase MW is a reliable place to expect new things. After this, the customers are at the mercy to Apple product refreshes.

Perhaps having the rumors be so accurate really got to Steve.

All in all, the MR website seems to offer a pretty accurate account as to when to expect an event, what to expect, and of the details of upcoming product and software releases. At least we still have WWDC, and, of course, reliable leaks which inevitably make it here.

Dec 17, 2008, 03:51 PM	#3
T'hain Esh Kelch macrumors regular Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Denmark	Gotta love it. One of the major papers here in Denmark just posted an article on their webpage stating that "Steve Jobs is dying".. O_O Gotta love rumors. But this Steves health thing is getting out of hand. __________________ "There's no bigot like a religious bigot and there's no religion more fanatical than that espoused by Macintosh zealots." ~Martin Veitch, IT Week [31-01-2003]

Dec 17, 2008, 03:52 PM	#4
themoonisdown09 macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Georgia, USA	As long as they still have keynotes for product releases, I really don't care if it happens at Macworld or whenever they want. __________________ Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

Dec 17, 2008, 04:00 PM	#7
DMann macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: 10023	This was to be expected. Apple likely felt exploited by IDG, and felt even more so when requested concessions weren't met. WWDC is Apple's event, not a trade show, so it will likely continue along the same line as "Special Events" do. __________________ Think Different - Innovate

Dec 17, 2008, 04:01 PM	#12
alphaod Contributor Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: LIE x37	Apple has everything planned out don't they? Damn this is just Apple wanting control of their own events. Kind of selfish methinks. __________________ Search before you post: MRoogle Mac Pro E09 (2x2.66/6x2GB/4x300GB10K/GTX285) \| Dell 3007WFP-HC (30") MacBook Air M09 (2.13/2GB/128GB) \| iPhone 3GS (32GB/White/Unlocked)

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Dec 17, 2008, 03:50 PM	#2
Tallest Skil Banned Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: 1 Geostationary Tower Plaza	Should have asked him about WWDC, too. Missed opportunity right there...

Dec 17, 2008, 03:53 PM	#5
ilfn143 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Enron by the Sea	maybe psystar will have a booth there

Dec 17, 2008, 03:55 PM	#10
Peace macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: On top of the Storm Peaks waiting for the Time-Lost Proto Drake	This reasoning makes no sense considering Apple already had the biggest booths set up for this years MWSF.. If they were getting out why would they have the largest presence there ?.

Dec 17, 2008, 03:58 PM	#11
stukdog macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2004	I see Macworld Boston pointed to quite often as the future of MWSF. That may be true, but I will say one thing. The Mac is much more popular now than it was in 2002. MUCH more. I could see MWSF just scaled down but still acting as a yearly meet up of Mac vendors and users.

Dec 17, 2008, 04:00 PM	#15
ebrunn Banned Join Date: May 2008	lol at downgrading a stock over this. Major buying opportunity if it continues to fall.

Dec 17, 2008, 06:59 PM	#24
austinfd macrumors newbie Join Date: Apr 2007	For me this is a little upsetting because now Apple holds ALL the cards when it comes to product releases. Sure, things have been creeping this way for some time, but until this week, we could count on MWSF to be a launchpad for some new products. Now Apple is free to update and release at their whim. Good for them, but sucks for the consumers who now have to guess that the product they buy won't be upstaged by something at some unkown date. Yeah, yeah, updates and obsolescence are all part of the deal, I know. But in my case, I just came back from living abroad for 2 years and decided to wait on buying my iPhone because MAYBE there will be an update in January. If this was the year Apple pulled out of MW, I would be left guessing. That may be fine. A 16GB iPhone is probably sufficient. However, today, I have some power to buy or wait, becase MW is a reliable place to expect new things. After this, the customers are at the mercy to Apple product refreshes.