Thoughts on Apple's last Macworld Expo keynote

It is very clear that Apple has begun the long process of succession planning for the future day when Steve decides he can move to a Board seat and let someone else run the day to day show.

Phil Schiller is on the list of internal Apple people who could replace Jobs someday. The normally reclusive Jon Ive was trotted out to do part of the introduction of the Unibody MacBooks a little while back. Guess what, he is also on the list of possible Steve replacements when the time comes.

I expect we'll see more Apple executives giving addresses in the coming years as the company tries to figure out if any of them is right for the public face of Apple.

And succession planning isn't about Steve's health or lack thereof whatever the case may be. It is standard procedure for a company to figure out how they are going to transition from the founder to a hired gun so to speak.

For me, personally, it's clear it's the timing issue coupled with being chained to Expo dates. And for Steve, it's all about control. It's insane to announce your big product *after* the Christmas buying season, *after* most companies have ended their fiscal year, etc. Your consumer stuff (thinking students and shoppers) should come out in the late summer/early fall, and your pro-level stuff, well, it should come out when it's damn well ready.

I can see why some will lament the loss of the Expo, but I think it's time has passed.

But doesn't THIS site (and others like it such as gizmodo and engadget) profit off of the propagation of these rumors?

just as an fyi -

Affect is a verb (99% of the time). Effect is a noun (99% of the time).

steve's appearance would never have an affect, only an effect.

I think the end of the Stevenote is 100% related to Steve Jobs' health. Steve could be the janitor at Apple headquarters and still give the keynote at these events because he has charisma and a knack for persuasion (reality distortion fields, anyone?). The rumors and leaks are red herrings, in my opinion, since they're been a regular occurrence for years.

As for Apple pulling out of MacWorld, in this case the show cost is a red herring. This all has to do with cutting IDG out of the picture. Apple started this several years ago after IDG moved the summer MacWorld back to Boston and Apple refused to follow (by the way, thanks for snubbing my town, Steve). Apple instead moved the keynote to the WWDC. Now it's coming full circle by Apple pulling out of the winter MacWorld.

love the "One More Thing" idea. Would be a nice touch. But I doubt that'll happen

I have to disagree with only the point of product release schedules. If Apple wanted more control of product releases, they would say so and do so. An announcement of Apple abbandoning the "traditional" macworld releases and not announcing new products at macworld would resolve the new product expectation timeline quickly. All apple has to do is say the Steve has nothing to announce, apple is moving to a non-scheduled release cycle to be more competitive. They already laid the foundation with the music event where the new Nanos were released.

Even as a PC user, I look forward to Stevenotes a lot. I can easily see why Apple would want to pull out of trade shows like this, but no Stevenote? At the last one? I sure hope Jobs makes at least a special apperance. I also think that they will release new products (almost certainly desktops). I think we all know that the Mac desktops are in real need of a refresh. We'll just have to get used to Schiller introducing them.

The keynotes in this youtube era are a kind of anachronism. They were a lot of trouble just for a few product unveilings.

If Steve wants to put up a video with a product unveiling, he can do it within a studio.
On the upside it'll give some of those presenters a chance to get their demos running cleanly, though the magic of editing.

This was really a great article, thanks Dave!