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Macworld attendees listen to IDG's Paul Kent (standing, left) discuss the future of Macworld.
(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News)A middle-aged man in a faded NeXT T-shirt raised his hand for the microphone. If IDG wanted to save Macworld, he said, it should hold a "schwag-fest," where Macolytes could bond over swapping tchotchke from Macworlds past.
The Mac community had its say Wednesday night, at least for one evening. Whether IDG, the organizer of Macworld, takes up the suggestion is another question.
IDG World Expo vice president and general manager Paul Kent hosted the discussion, which saw several hundred people pack into a room at San Francisco's Moscone Center to discuss the future of the event.
IDG has a few of its own ideas for next year's show. Kent revealed that next year's Exhibit Hall at Macworld will be free for those attending this year's show; a similar pass cost $25 this year. The New York Times' David Pogue has committed to give "The Anti-Keynote," which presumably will be one of Pogue's trademark song-and-dance satirical routines. And 60 companies have pledged their support, including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Intuit.
But there is no plan right now beyond 2010. Kent confirmed our story that Apple's decision caught IDG totally by surprise, speaking often of the "new business reality" that has been thrust upon the company in a very short period of time.
It sounded like Kent would like Macworld to get younger, capitalizing on the popularity of the Mac with the under-30 set, who were sorely underrepresented during Wednesday's meeting. He suggested future Macworld shows as music or art festivals, showcases for digitally created art.
That suggestion was met with a lukewarm reception by meeting attendees who seemed to want IDG to focus on preserving the existing community. A handful of suggestions included:
• Smaller, more focused meetings held more frequently in multiple locations. New York, Boston, and Texas were mentioned: Kent said IDG was committed to San Francisco for the 2010 show but had no commitments beyond that.
• A return to Macworld as a conference for professional users of Mac technology, such as educators and design professionals. That category used to be the most significant portion of Apple's customer base but has been neglected over the past few years, as the Mac drew more and more consumer attention.
• Developing a way to let exhibitors know that their products were purchased online by someone who saw them at Macworld, giving them a reason to keep coming back.
Despite having to scramble in the aftermath of Apple's decision to leave Macworld, IDG and the Mac community have plenty to time to consider what lies in store for 2011 and beyond.
And although Apple seems to think it can reach the majority of its customers through its growing network of Apple retail stores, several attendees expressed a desire for the type of interaction that they can't get at those stores: deep, meaningful conversations with fellow technology enthusiasts who share similar passions and knowledge of the Mac. That bodes well for the conference because it would seem that those people are willing to travel and pay some sort of fee for the experience.
One interesting thing: not a single attendee or IDG employee at the town hall meeting mentioned the iPhone, even though several attendees checked their e-mail throughout the hour-long discussion on iPhones. Macworld offered a session on the iPhone during this week's conference, but if that segment of Apple's business continues to grow there's an awful lot of territory there to explore that has only been done at local levels, such as the iPhone Dev Camp.
Pre-Macworld buzz suggested that both a new Mac Mini and a 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro laptop were in the offing from Apple Tuesday on the hardware front.
It seems that the moldy old Mac Mini will stick around for at least a little longer, but the 17-inch MacBook Pro did indeed receive an update to the new all-aluminum chassis Apple debuted on its smaller 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro this past October.
Along with the new chassis, an improved display, and a glass trackpad (all things we've seen before), Apple has brought a few other changes to its highest-end laptop:
The 17-inch MacBook Pro gets a new chassis with improved display technology.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)Glossy and matte display options
The new 15-inch MacBook Pro came with a glossy screen that many people found too reflective. Apple will now offer a $50 matte finish option for the 17-inch MacBook Pro, for those who'd rather do without all of that extra light. We're happy about this option, and we expect that many others will be as well.
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If you're interested in live updates from tomorrow's Macworld keynote, we've got you covered.
We'll report live from San Francisco's Moscone Center as Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller gives the show's keynote address. That should kick off at 9 a.m. PST. You can get to the live blog here (link will be live as soon as the blog is live). Bowing to popular demand, we'll post those in order as they come in, rather than the reverse chronological order we've used on past live blogs.
Tuesday's Macworld should still be an interesting event even without CEO Steve Jobs making his usual address to the Macworld crowd. A new MacBook Pro, new Mac Minis, and a thorough discussion of the upcoming release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard are expected.
Later in the day we'll have tons of photos, lots of video, and the initial reactions of CNET Reviews staff--before they jet off to the desert for CES--to whatever new products Apple has on tap. So stick around all day; it's not like anybody's getting much work done the first week back from the holiday break anyway, right?
Apple CEO Steve Jobs' absence from Macworld 2009 could be a prelude to a new communications strategy.
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)
Even though CEO Steve Jobs will not be playing his customary role, the last Macworld Expo with Apple's participation will still be interesting--for perhaps that exact reason.
Apple's decision to pull Jobs from Tuesday's Macworld keynote speech--and its announcement that 2009 would be its last year at the show--deflated much of the usual pre-Macworld speculation regarding the company's 2009 product plans. The show must go on, however; and Senior Vice President of Marketing Phil Schiller will likely have a few new products to show off, such as an iPhone Nano, a revamped 17-inch MacBook Pro, and a new operating system called Snow Leopard.
But Macworld 2009 will probably not be remembered for the products introduced there, unless Apple has quite the ace up its sleeve. Instead, Tuesday's 90-minute presentation will be scrutinized for signs that Apple is preparing to change an external communications strategy in which its founder has been its primary spokesman since his return to the company in 1997.
Officially, Apple said its decision to have Jobs skip the Macworld keynote address--perhaps the most widely followed annual presentation by any tech industry CEO--was linked to its decision to bail on Macworld entirely following this week's event. It's unclear what will happen to the conference following Apple's departure. The show's presenter, IDG World Expo, says the 2010 event is on. But it also plans to hold a "town meeting" during this week's show, where it will solicit ideas for the future. (Editors' note: See also Monday morning's news, "On eve of Macworld, Jobs talks health.")
Apple's Macworld updates
Here's a basic rundown of everything Apple announced Tuesday. For more details, read our summary here.
iTunes
DRM-free and cheaper songs
MacBook Pro
New 8-hour battery
iLife '09
Photo geotagging and music lessons
iWork '09
Online syncing, Keynote Remote
It's hard to imagine a fate for Macworld any different than what happened to the East Coast show after Apple cut its ties, however. Since his return to the company, Jobs has always been Apple's primary voice, and whether it was held in Boston, New York, or San Francisco, the star attraction at Macworld.
Even though he's not giving the keynote, Jobs will still attract that sort of attention Tuesday, even if all he does is settle into a front-row seat to watch the presentation. Apple has not said whether or not Jobs will make an appearance during the keynote, but such an appearance could go a long way toward deflecting the latest round of rumors surrounding his health.
After all, the man is a legend. Arguably one of the most influential businesspeople of the last 30 years, Jobs personifies much of what people like to see in Apple, and much of the brand promise of the Mac: a brilliant iconoclast who takes no prisoners yet cares deeply about elegance.
There are signs, however, that Apple is entering a new era. It seems pretty clear that Apple chafed at the idea of having to introduce some of its best new products a few weeks after the close of the holiday selling season. Most consumer electronics companies like to make their big product introductions toward the end of the year, rather than the beginning, but the timing of Macworld forced Apple into a different schedule.
Also, while it's not unusual for Jobs to share the spotlight during his keynotes, Apple put together its deepest ensemble cast in recent memory for October's MacBook event. Jobs rolled out the company's latest notebooks accompanied by COO Tim Cook, Senior Vice President for Industrial Design Jonny Ive, and a video featuring executives off the radar of most Apple watchers, such as Vice President of Product Design Dan Riccio.
If anything, that event proved that few Apple executives--to be fair, few executives anywhere--have the stage presence and presentation skills that Jobs enjoys. So why would Apple change that role now, when the company is at the top of its game?
For one thing, there's a downside to Apple's strategy of putting its founder front-and-center before the public. Rumors regarding his health and appearance have played havoc with Apple's stock throughout 2008 and as recently as last week. Much of that speculation was unwarranted earlier in the year, but given that even up until mid-December Apple had led IDG to believe Jobs would be taking his usual place in Moscone Center, Apple practically invited this round of rumors about Jobs' health by announcing the decision as suddenly as it did.
Macworld has long been The Steve Jobs Show, but is he really the only person who can shepherd product development breakthroughs like the iPhone?
(Credit: Casimir Fornalski/CNET Networks)But even if Jobs is merely sick of Macworld, rather than actually sick, Apple will live longer than he will.
To be clear, just because Jobs isn't giving the Macworld keynote does not necessarily mean that Apple is ready to lower his profile. The company hosts several of its own events every year, such as the June Worldwide Developers Conference and September music event, and may be planning for business-as-usual Stevenotes at those events later this year. Apple never seems to break up amicably with its partners, and Jobs' vanishing act from Macworld 2009 could just be a parting shot in an often-contentious relationship between Apple and IDG World Expo.
Still, at some point Apple will run into problems if Jobs is forever seen as the only person capable of running the company. Apple today is a much different company than the struggling corporation Jobs took over in 1997. It has 32,000 employees, three hit products that generate profits, and the world's largest music store.
Apple has sold the concept of Jobs as the single-most important factor in Apple's success so well that many outsiders don't understand that other brilliant, driven people at Apple come up with cool ideas from time to time. Steve Jobs is certainly more hands-on than the average tech executive when it comes to product design and execution, but he's not the only person capable of running Apple. As the saying goes, the graveyards are full of indispensable men.
Some day, Steve Jobs will decide he's ready for the next chapter of his life and Apple will need to have a replacement ready. Many have criticized Apple over the past year for seeming to lack a succession plan, but not discussing such a plan publicly and not discussing such a plan internally are two very different things.
Tuesday could be the first step in that plan. Phil Schiller is probably not going to be the man who leads Apple once Jobs moves on, but he might be the ideal person to guest-host Macworld as a parade of Apple executives hone their presentation skills and introduce themselves to the general public.
For all the accolades deservedly paid to Jobs' leadership and salesmanship skills, there is someone else out there who is capable of keeping Apple on track. Jobs has always struck me as a man with meticulous plans for the future, and it might soon be time for a little light to be shed on Apple 4.0.
New Mac Minis and iMacs could be on the short list for Macworld 2009.
(Credit: Apple)A Mac fan with way too much time on his hands may have discovered evidence of new iMacs and Mac Minis coming soon.
A forum poster on InsanelyMac.com found code strings inside the version of Mac OS X running on the new MacBooks that point to a new version of the iMac and Mac Mini. MacRumors.com verified that the identifying marks uncovered by the poster (iMac9,1 and Macmini3,1) would indeed represent a new version beyond the marks used by the current iMac and MacMini (iMac8,1 and Macmini2,1).
The new systems appear to use the same Nvidia chipsets that Apple introduced in those new MacBooks, the MCP79 chipset. That chipset uses the Nvidia 9400M graphics processor, and would give both systems a boost in graphics processing power over the Intel integrated chipsets they currently use.
New Mac Minis and iMacs are high on the list of systems expected to arrive at Macworld 2009. The Mac Mini has been the subject of much speculation about its future this year after it appeared the systems were headed out to pasture, but it appears Apple will bring it around for another go.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
In some great news from Mac Mojo, the Office for Mac team blog, it looks like Windows Live Messenger for Mac will receive a major update sometime early next year. The biggest new feature update will be AV support for the personal client, which means users will be able to participate in cross-platform audio and video chat using the personal version of Microsoft Messenger for Mac. They are also working on additional features for the personal Windows Live Messenger client and are on track to preview some of the new implementations at Macworld in January at the MacBU booth. The new Windows Live Messenger for Mac with AV support should be available as a beta sometime early next year.
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