NY Times’ Pogue: ‘It was a strange Macworld Expo this year’
Thursday, January 08, 2009 - 03:28 PM EST "Well, it was a strange Macworld Expo this year. Steve Jobs, usually the looming presence over this four-day Mac/iPod/iPhone confab in San Francisco, was completely absent. Apple had a toned-down presence, and everybody knew that next year, the company won't be here at all, which made everyone wonder how long the event can survive," David Pogue reports for The New York Times.MacDailyNews Take: Look at history to determine Apple-less Macworld Expo survival rates. They don't last long, if at all.
Pogue continues, "So how was Apple's final keynote presentation, given by marketing executive Phil Schiller? Since everyone's expectations for hot new announcements were about zero, it's safe to say that the keynote pretty much fulfilled expectations. There were no new category-busting products, no shockers. But there were some smaller, evolutionary gems."
Here were three of my favorites:
• iPhoto '09
• iMovie '09: "Vastly more usable and complete than was iMovie '08."
• DRM-free iTunes Store music
Pogue reports, "I spoke with Phil Schiller after his talk. I asked him if he could be any more specific about why Apple pulled out of the Macworld Expo... He said what the Apple press release said--that Apple stores introduce more people to Apple's products in a week than 100 Macworld Expos. Trade shows just aren't worth the effort and the money... He noted that Apple marches to certain annual product cycles [and] January doesn't fit ANY of them."
Full article here.


Phil is true in his words. Last year, they introduced the MacBook Air........and that was basically it. The Laptops got refreshed in Feb as well as the MacPro (or was it end of Jan)........
Meh.