In what's got to be a surprise move, Apple has announced that this will be the last MacWorld event they attend and that Steve Jobs will forego his usual role as keynote. Apple says that they have many alternate ways of reaching customers and the press and that they don't need the show anymore.
Sure, Apple gets press out the wazoo anytime it wants it. A few cryptic words in an otherwise throwaway press release and the entire world is abuzz. And sure, they must spend millions on each show. But did anyone over there stop to think, even for a moment, that sometimes it's not all about them. Sometimes it's about the galaxy of products that orbit the MacWorld. Sometimes it pays to support the developers of hardware and software that help make the products the hit(s) they've become.
Apple goes out of its way, seemingly, to step on those that seek to enrich the Mac/iPod universe. Heavy-handed actions with the AppStore on iTunes on top of this latest Bronx Cheer to the industry seem to send the signal that since they've become so powerful, they don't need anyone else to succeed and thrive. Their success is 100% attributable to their own genius. Yikes. If that's not the kind of hubris that comes just before the inevitable butt-kicking, I don't know what is.
Show a little humility Apple. Sure, you can reach the customers in other ways, but what about everyone else in the ecosystem when MacWorld goes belly up? How do they reach customers? Through Apple.com? As a Mac owner, iPod owner, iPhone owner, I've got to say I'm not feeling too good about what's on the horizon. The way they're acting, you might almost think that Balmer is in charge of Apple instead of Microsoft.
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