Linked List: December 16, 2008

Tuesday, 16 December 2008

The End of an Era for Macworld Expo ★

Nice piece by Rob Griffiths on how today’s announcements herald the end of an era:

As a business person, I think I completely understand Apple’s decision — not being tied to a huge annual event, occurring just after the Christmas buying season, is a good thing. Not spending a small fortune on everything involved in participating in a huge trade show is a good thing. Having more flexibility in releasing products whenever you want to is a good thing. Not having to come up with One More Thing every year is a good thing. So really, I get it; it makes perfect business sense. As an individual and Mac enthusiast, though, I think it’s one of the worst things to happen to the Mac community in many years.

Paul Kent on Apple’s Exit From Macworld Expo ★

Paul Kent, vice president and general manager of IDG World Expo:

Macworld Conference & Expo has thrived for 25 years due to the strong support of tens of thousands of people in the Mac community worldwide who use Macworld as a way to find great products, partake in professional development training and cultivate their personal and professional networks.

We are committed to serve their interests at the Moscone Center, January 4-8, 2010.

Jim Goldman: ‘Steve Jobs Is Fine. It’s Macworld the Expo That’s on Its Last Legs.’ ★

CNBC’s Jim Goldman:

I can tell you that sources inside the company tell me that Jobs’s decision was more about politics than his pancreas. Sources tell me that if Jobs for some reason was unable to perform any of his responsibilities as CEO because of health reasons, which would include the Macworld keynote, I should “rest assured that the board would let me know.”

If the only news were that Schiller was subbing for Jobs as keynote speaker this year, I’d be more willing to entertain rumors of Jobs being sick. But announcing that they’re done with Macworld Expo, period, full stop? That’s not something Apple would do just because Steve Jobs wasn’t up to it this year.

E3 Video Game Trade Show Shrinks, Too ★

Dan Ackerman, reporting for Reuters back in 2007:

When the annual trade show once known simply as E3 kicks off this week, attendees will discover a distinctly downsized event.

The video game industry’s premier trade show has been scaled down considerably after years of an escalating arms race of ever-larger booths, expensive parties and legions of game fans hoping to skirt the Electronic Entertainment Expo’s notoriously lenient “trade only” attendance policy.

It’s not just Macworld Expo.

Apple Announces Last Year of Christmas ★

“Apple has been steadily scaling back on holidays in recent years, including Valentine’s Day, Columbus Day, President’s Day and Grandparents Day in Japan.” (Via Jacqui Cheng.)

From the DF Archives: Exposed ★

This isn’t the first time Apple has stopped participating in an annual event called “Macworld Expo”. For those of you new to scene, traditionally there were two Macworld Expos — San Francisco in January and an east coast show in Boston (or, for a handful of years, New York) in July. Here’s what I wrote in October 2002, when Apple decided to stop participating in the summer show:

So, to sum it up, the twice-yearly Expos (1) cost Apple millions of dollars; (2) put a lot of pressure on the company to make major product announcements on the Expos’ schedule, not when the products are actually ready; (3) are not under Apple’s direct control.

Daring Fireball was two months old at the time. And:

A Macworld Expo without Apple is like an airport without any airlines. The duty-free shop isn’t going to keep the lights turned on.

Newsweek Story on App Store Smash Hits ★

Dan Lyons, reporting for Newsweek:

“It’s kind of a gold rush,” says Brian Greenstone, who runs a tiny outfit (it’s just him and a few freelancers) called Pangea Software in Austin, Texas, that has created several hit games for the iPhone, including Cro-Mag Rally and Enigmo. Greenstone, 41, has been writing games for Apple’s computers for 21 years. But he says he’s never seen anything like the iPhone apps phenomenon, which this year will deliver $5 million in revenue for him. “It’s crazy. It’s like lottery money. In the last four and a half months we’ve made as much money off the retail sales of iPhone apps as we’ve made with retail sales of all of the apps that we’ve made in the past 21 years—combined.” Business is so good that Greenstone won’t even bother writing for the Mac anymore.

Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld Expo; Schiller to Deliver Keynote ★

Bombshell:

Apple 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.

Wow. So much for bullshit netbook speculation being the topic of the day.

2001: A Space Odyssey, the Chicken Cordon Bleu Danube Cut ★

Sacrilegious, but I couldn’t turn away.