[WarrenS]

There is an awards show that i avoid every year that is the TONY awards
(the best Broadway show etc.) Why, because i have never been to a NY Broadway show. Each year only about 200,000 people see them not just one show, but all of them combined. To compare, the worst cable show gets millions of viewers, so It makes no sense to stage a production and waste 3hrs of Prime time to showcase the winners of an award for something that so few people see.
The same is true for Macworld. The only people who care are those who go. The average Mac user couldn't tell you when or where it takes place that is until after the Macworld expo issue comes out.

[doctorsid]

Trade Shows in the Tech industry are no longer cost effective. Especially for Apple

[UlfDahlen]

Yes, but Macworld is much more than a trade show. If it only was a trade show, I wouldn't really care if it went away. But it's a conference as well and a sort of cultural event for Mac heads. I will really miss that. The conference is superb. The parties, the press coverage, the people; that's what I will miss. And yes, I blame Apple.

[hillstones]

[quote name='chefmitch']
Yeah, good luck with that. I hope you enjoy your time with Vista.

Seriously, if Apple is no longer offering you the best computing experience then you should go where the grass is greener. If you think Vista will give you that better computing experience then more power to you.

Don't let the door hit you in the a.





>

farlander said:

> My personal opinion: Apple got cocky. It's been fairly cocky for awhile now, actually, but it looks like they've reached the point where they no longer care about anybody.
>
> I've tried to work with Apple as a business awhile ago, and was met with INCREDIBLE arrogance. I've cancelled all my plans on using Apple servers in our company because of that arrogance. I've cancelled all plans on switching our users to Macs. We currently are 99.999% Dell company, and we could have been a 99.999% Apple company.
>
> On the other hand, the quality of Apple products has been diminishing year after year. Leopard is the buggiest version of Mac OS X ever. Every single hardware product they release requires recalls and numerous fixes, because NOT A SINGLE PRODUCT works the way it is expected to work out of the box.
>
> Quite honestly, I'm myself considering switching to something different. Perhaps I'll switch back to where I came from to the Macs: Unix (OpenSolaris is a pretty nice system nowadays, for example). Or, as funny as it might be, even Vista.

LOL. Too funny! Farlander can enjoy Vista all he wants, and enjoy those crappy Dells too. Why aren't you claiming to be 100% Dell? What is the remaining .0001%? Yeah, like those are reliable. Apple's products have not been diminishing in quality, they have been IMPROVING in quality ever since they booted the prior CEO's. Leopard is not the buggiest version of Mac OS X. It is rock solid on my Macs. What recalls are you talking about? Every single hardware product? Pull your head out of the sand! Sounds like you are the arrogant one. Apple won't miss you as a customer. As Chefmitch said, don't let the door hit you on the a when you leave.

[ElijahPost]

You and I are of a kind. I've have lived and breathed apple for so long, can't wait for the next products to be announced, and because of school, etc, never saw Steve give his keynote. I hope apple will start selling tikets to thier "special events" for like $50 per tiket. sobs

[ElijahPost]

"Poor Timing"

That's an understatement.

I just spent since September when I bought the tikets looking foward to the keynote, then, as if It was a small announcement, I'm shot down faster than a feeling of happpyness when you open firefox, logic 8, and iMovie at the same time.

[macnews]

I think the real story here is the death of the trade show and conventions in general. Even if they aren't dead, many are experiencing reduced VENDOR attendance. Trade shows and conferences often rely heavily on the money brought in from vendor fees, not to mention the gifts/prizes vendors will give to the show to entice paying attendees.

So are we seeing some evil Apple plan to hide Jobs health or eschew their user base? I don't think so. I certainly hope not on the health front, I already have one good friend and mac user dying from pancreatic cancer - don't wish that on anyone, esp twice. I also think the user base is growing. With growth comes changes, changes we may like and others we may not.

What I will miss, not being able to see a Steve keynote. They were fun to watch on the computer or live when they were broadcast and I hear even better in person. Having used macs since 1979, yeah this would have been fun to watch.

[IEBA1]

This article is dead on the money.
And that's a shame.
Apple has been "broadening its horizons" for some time now with consumer electronics and it can't stay beholden to an expo that tries to remind it about the innovative and unique computers it once made for people who demanded the best products.
Remember, there is NO "Apple Computer, Inc." any more. They dropped "computer" from the name of the company. Now they drop the expo that highlights the computing arm of Apple, Inc.
How soon till they ditch computers altogether?
IMHO, not long at all.
Their intent is clear.
So my next machine won't be a Mac.
Anthony Burokas
Publisher, TechThoughts.org.

[PowerPC]

It would be better, although it would mean no more advance buzz, if Apple would drop product-announcement keynotes altogether. Just place the products in Apple stores and on their Web site as soon as they're ready, and let the public be the first to try them out instead of Steve Jobs on a stage.

[tbutler67]

jldinsdale said:

But the point is that this is not about Apple - Apple & Job are the protagonist if you hadn't noticed - but to MWSF, a 25-year old institution in the young era of the micro computer. You've never been to an Expo, and that's a real shame - despite the news articles, the blog posts, the Macworld articles, nothing beats the hype of being there, in the flesh, surrounded by THOUSANDS of fellow enthusiasts who share the same passion as you. No matter how high-quality the Apple QT feed of the event is, NOTHING beats the feeling of being there first hand, meeting people, trying out products, etc etc etc.

No, in fact, I think you're the one who's missing hurtle's point. Macworld Expo was a great thing to go to... if you were one of the lucky ones who could go. That's only 50,000 people every year, out of how many millions of Mac users? Somewhere under 1% of the Mac community?

Yes, it was a wonderful event. I went there six times. But for the people who couldn't go, the important thing was the product announcements and the stuff that got reported... and that stuff can be done over the internet now. For most people, then, how is the experience going to change? Yeah, there isn't going to be the huge clump of product announcements you can watch for... but conversely, the individual announcements might stand out more now that they don't have to compete with everything else being announced at the same time.

Quote

And THAT is what's going away, to most of our chagrin.

People need to remember, that huge wonderful experience was only real for a small fraction of the Mac community. For everyone else, the secondhand coverage isn't all that much different from reading regular product announcements. There's no 'most' about it.

[Duncan8146]

Here are a few thoughts. I certainly hope the show continues and is successful. I think there is a decent chance of that but it will be on a smaller scale. In some ways it could be better at catering to peoples needs, it's pretty hard to deal with 40,000 + people. To get vendors they are going to have to slash the prices and find ways to cut costs. Maybe get a sweetheart deal at another convention centre, how about New Orleans, I bet they would let you have 2 years free if you pay for the next two. Get creative IDG.

I hope Apple agrees to have some sort of presence such as a very long Genius Bar to chit chat at. I also think they should offer to do the Keynote, but state categorically they will never announce major product launches at the trade show. Have Ives, and others do it and sometimes Steve, but this is your community guys. You are not going to show up? You should.

Which leads to this thought. Why won't they show up in some capacity? Either Steve Jobs has a bone to pick with IDG or his health is bad. If it was based on just his health I don't think they would completely pull out of future shows. Apple is saying they don't want to play anymore. And if you are blaming Apple for the last minute announcement I think it's more likely IDG said something like, Well, can you please hold off to the last possible moment? We are selling booths and passes and you not showing up will hurt us. I'm sure Steve was big enough to do that for them. As much as the author wants to poo poo and muddy the waters about the move from NY to Boston and the Apple pull out, it's a fact Jobs wanted it in NY. Period. In the business IDG is in, it's likely a good idea to stay on Apple's good side. They didn't. IDG acted like they are the big trade show guys and Apple needed them and they will follow. They were right for a while. But obviously there is not a close relationship there and Steve Jobs does not feel he has to do them any favors. Why is that? Lousy IDG leadership? Should the The CEO of IDG be canned. Maybe. He just lost one of the brightest jewels they had because he lost Apple. Some time ago I suspect. I'm sure Stive Jobs is not the easiest guy to get along with but you see, it was the leadership of IDG's JOB to get along with him. And as I said in an earlier post IDG does not even know yet how to put on a trade show even in 2008. They had tens of thousands of people show up at the same time to get their badges printed off before they could enter. What kind of thinking is that?

Remember Steve had it out with Eisner at Disney? He's out and Steve is the biggest Disney share holder. You don't tell Steve to shove it and do it your own way when your way negatively effects Jobs. You can do it, but at your peril.

According to Tom Krazit at crave.cnet.co.uk
IDG and Apple have had a rocky relationship in the past. A rift developed between the companies when IDG made the decision to move the Macworld event in New York to Boston, near the company's Framingham, Massachusetts headquarters. Apple promptly pulled out of that event, and the East Coast Macworld was cancelled in 2005 due to lack of interest without the star attraction.

So I can say, way to go IDG... you blew it. I hope you take the opportunity to re-invent the show and you are more successful at a new version than you were running the last version.

[Ilgaz]

davebarnes said:

What you smell is the vommit from numerous IDG employees who just lost their jobs.

Yes, 13,000 people at IDG working to make a Macworld show, nothing else.

http://www.answers.c...%20Data%20Group

It seems Mac users have problem understanding the size and prestige of IDG. It is not just Macworld or PC World. If you skip a IDG event because you don't have anything to show, it is your loss, not them. It is your reputation and especially high end, Workstation market you lose.

No, you can't demo a ATTO Fiber at a iPod selling Mac store.

[Ilgaz]

IEBA1 said:

This article is dead on the money.
And that's a shame.
Apple has been "broadening its horizons" for some time now with consumer electronics and it can't stay beholden to an expo that tries to remind it about the innovative and unique computers it once made for people who demanded the best products.

Remember, there is NO "Apple Computer, Inc." any more. They dropped "computer" from the name of the company. Now they drop the expo that highlights the computing arm of Apple, Inc.

How soon till they ditch computers altogether?
IMHO, not long at all.
Their intent is clear.
So my next machine won't be a Mac.

Anthony Burokas
Publisher, TechThoughts.org.

Back in 1997, everything went wrong after the copycat Windows 95 and never admitting MacOS is not ready for future and they could keep lights on thanks to their core market, designers, DTP, people who doesn't really care for how cheap x86 is.

By taking decisions like that, they put themselves to a huge risk. iPhone people and iPod people aren't that trustable as professionals who would be attending to Macworld show. If some copycat/cheaper product ships, they can easily abandon ship.

They are abandoning their base market, the fallback market. The community really matters and it is not the Digg etc. junk fanatics, the real community is something different.

Apple should have fun with their new "Web 2.0" media, look at Digg Apple section and see what I mean.

[UlfDahlen]

I still think this is a betrayal of the loyal Mac base. Macworld is much more than an expo, it's a conference (with very good sessions), a meeting place and a cultural event. Even if Apple thinks it will save money by withdrawing, that is not a good enough reason. They are destroying the enthusiasm of their customer base.