Apple Investors: “Philnote” Just Doesn’t Have the Same Ring to It
by John Paczkowski
Posted on December 16, 2008 at 3:45 PM PT
Told that Macworld Expo 2009 will be Apple’s last, and the first that CEO Steve Jobs does not keynote, investors behaved much as you’d imagine, dragging the company’s shares into the mud in after-hours trading. Fueling the panic: obvious concerns about Jobs’s well-being. And, of course, speculation that Macworld is likely to disappoint devotees hoping for the introduction of some insanely great new product.
A quick thought on that last point: CNBC’s Jim Goldman says he’s sure Jobs’s decision to skip the Macworld keynote has nothing to do with his health. If that’s the case, tapping Phil Schiller to deliver the company’s final Macworld “Stevenote” likely has more to do with Apple’s acrimonious relationship with Macworld organizer IDG than anything else. Given the media attention the company’s able to command these days, Apple no longer really needs events like Macworld. The company’s special events are equally as effective in generating publicity and far easier to orchestrate and control.
So would Apple really send Senior VP Phil Schiller out onto the Macworld stage without a cool new product to introduce? Probably. So much for that netbook …
Comments
I agree with Goldman on this, there’s politics involved. Too, Apple has an advantage here to roll out product anytime and are no longer beholden to expectations of this conference. I like it better that they announce new product in the second quarter for instance, which is a lower revenue quarter and generally lackluster period relative to news. Macworld has always been a badly timed event, right before what is typically stellar earnings.
And what about the gaming that surrounds Macworld by analysts every year. It has to drive Apple management mad. This will defeat the gaming that happens every time this year, Apple can announce product more opportunistically relative to marketing and general sentiments at any point in time. Much better for them.
Posted by kevin bailey at December 16th, 2008 at 4:31 pmMaybe Apple is just sick of having its employees work “crunch time” over the holiday season, just to give Steve something interesting to announce in January, a time when consumer disposable income is at its lowest for the year?
Posted by Charles Miller at December 16th, 2008 at 6:44 pmApple does not need Macworld Expo as they can command press attention anytime they want.
However, this (the death of Macworld Expo) is blow to all the smaller companies that appear at Macworld and get some attention.
This is the very sad aspect of the death of Macworld Expo.
Posted by Dave Barnes at December 16th, 2008 at 7:33 pm