Apple’s press release yesterday leaves a lot of unanswered questions. For one…Why wasn’t Steve Jobs mentioned in the press release? It’s obviously the first question everyone is going to ask — it makes sense to mention a reason WHY he would not be giving the Keynote. Instead, it was completely ignored.
We all know he’s been ill – so that’s obviously going to leave many speculating that this is a health issue. Especially since he’s been notoriously private about his health in the past, even going so far as to hide his rare form of pancreatic cancer from shareholders. As I write this we have heard no official word from Apple about Mr. Jobs in one way or another.
So one can’t help but ask – why is he not giving the LAST Keynote at Macworld? It’s hard for me to fathom why he would not do this if it WASN’T health related.
Let’s assume for a minute that it isn’t, though. Steve has just decided he’s too busy to come to Macworld this year and grace everyone with his presence.
What does this say about what we can expect to see at Macworld?
Chances are – we’re not going to be seeing much. If Steve is fine and dandy, there’s no way he’d skip showing us a revolutionary new product, or an innovative enhancement to an existing piece of the Apple puzzle. So maybe we’ll see Phil talk about Snow Leopard, and we might get some ideas about the next version of iWork or iLife (maybe)…but you can cross “netbook”, “iphone nano”, and “itablet” off your Keynote bingo cards…because none of that is happening without Jobs (unless he just isn’t physically able to make it).
I hate talking about his health, because I do agree (to an extent) that it’s a private matter. I also understand that thinking that since he is such a vital part of Apple’s business that his health should also be made known to shareholders within the company.
I can’t help but feel that this is a sign of a much larger issue. Either with Job’s health – or perhaps an impending retirement. I hope it’s the latter. The guy’s worked his rear off spear-heading this company for the last decade. It’d be a good idea to retire and enjoy life a little before it’s too late.
One thought on “Apple’s Press Release leaves many Questions left unanswered.”
Apple has been backing out of Macworlds for the past 15 years. If you don’t follow such things, you probably don’t remember that there used to be separate Macworlds held in such far flung places as Dallas, Hong Kong, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and Taiwan. Jobs has done keynote presentations for Macworlds in Boston, Paris, Tokyo and San Francisco.
IDG is in the business of hosting trade shows. The more Macworlds they held, the more money Apple had to give them for booth space. Over the years, Apple and IDG have developed a very atagonistic relationship and Apple has been pushing Macworld further and further away for quite a long-time.
Macworld Tokyo drew nearly 200,000 people at it’s peak. The year after Apple refused to return it was cancelled. Macworld Boston lasted a bit longer, but not much. The remnants of Macworld Paris just faded away.
Ask yourself this: “How does it serve Apple to hold off announcing updates to their consumer product line until 2 to 3 weeks after Christmas?”
Apple doesn’t need Macworld and Macworld is now in the way of Apple’s future progress. This has little to nothing to do with Steve Jobs.
reinharden