Why Apple Is Done With MacWorld
I think, after much reflection and ruminating, that I have a clear idea of what the problem is for Apple and why Steve Jobs is no longer needing Apple to be as prolific as it has been in the marketplace. Apple announced last month (Dec. 2008) that they would no longer be attending MacWorld shows. I don’t think this is the right choice or the logical choice based on the issues Apple will be facing in the next decade of the Cupertino giant, but I do think Steve Jobs was right to change the way Apple operates.
Apple has reached a point where they are now the defacto name of cool in the technical space. Apple has a cachet which Microsoft never had and it looks like Apple is now trying to capitalize on that. The simple truth is that cool doesn’t carry, and Apple will have to fundamentally modify its strategy to continue to grow. Its become clear that Steve may have figured out that no matter how many moves of the chess pieces he orchestrates, there is no longer anything new Apple can do that will have the Zing Factor of the iPhone.
They’ve captured the laptop market, the mobile media player market, the music market, the mobile phone market, and enough of the desktop market to make them very happy, and they’re watching that marketshare grow consistently. Anything they do now will be a derivation of something they’ve already done and people will necessarily be disappointed. This, I believe, is why Apple has been migrating away from the event-driven announcements over the past few years. Apple also had to have noticed that shares of Apple stock drop after every keynote.
I’m pretty sure that Steve knows that Apple rises and falls on his perceived failings and fortunes, and that’s not good to the ongoing fortunes of a huge multinational. Apple needs to become a brand again and right now its Apple is Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs own mortality had to play a role in his views on how Apple should appear to the world. Apple is now distancing itself from its fanbase and will, in the next year or so, become something akin to Microsoft.
This will actually help Apple to grow as the lifestyle brand it has been forging itself into, something Microsoft has never been able to get a handle on. The people who purchase Apple goods now don’t do so out of brand loyalty or because they are phanboiz. They buy because it is popular and it works. This was the image Steve Jobs has been crafting over the last decade. He started with the iMac then the new PowerBooks then Mac OS X then the iPod and so on.
If Apple is going to move forward, gain more marketshare, and be a powerhouse from this point on it needs to behave differently. Will this piss off the phanboiz? Sure. Will it upset the loyalists? Some. Will it cement Apple’s role in the future of lifestyle computing? Without a single doubt. Apple has created a brand image for itself which works on all levels of a persons needs from the technological standpoint. They have made themselves as necessary as shoes, and unlike Microsoft’s lumpy pennyloafers these shoes are nice and comfortable.
That brand image doesn’t have a picture of Steve Jobs in it. Think back and try to find any piece of advertising material aimed at the general consumer in the last decade which has included Steve Jobs in it. My bet is you won’t find any. I’m also going to bet that Apple will return to MacWorld soon, maybe even next year, but they won’t do the keynote.
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4 Comments on “Why Apple Is Done With MacWorld”
I really think it’s much more of an effort to diffuse the Wall Street ebb-and-flow ahead of and immediately following every MacWorld. That stock movement would usually be based on crappy rumors, and when those pie-in-the-sky rumors wouldn’t pan out, Apple stock would drop (look at today even; +5 pre-keynote, -1 now, on a market up day). If it were my company, I’d do more and more to minimize that thing (like Jobs’ has been doing by not speaking or letting a few others speak).
I do agree that that’s a factor, but Apple doesn’t have to pull out of MacWorld as an exhibitor to stop that kind of speculative trading. They just need to stop being the keynote element. Let someone else get some face time on the stage. Of course, I could easily be wrong
Apple’s decision not to continue using an annual trade show, MacWorld, to announce new products is a sensible move. Expectations always rise before each MacWorld, and they are rarely met. Also, Apple’s involvement in these trade shows is a huge expense, and not worth the money put into it.
What Apple has been doing lately, hosting a special media event when the company is ready to announce new products, is the smart way to go.
The only negative comments I have concerning today’s MacWorld keynote are:
1) If the company made the decision to drop out of these events, they should not have announced it to the world so shortly before the show. They should have made the announcement shortly after last year’s show, and then not shown up for this year’s event.
2) Considering that Apple made a commitment to keynote this year’s MacWorld, they should have used this last opportunity to announce something substantial. By having Phil Schiller deliver a lack-luster presentation with no product announcements worthy of the effort and expense, Apple has only hurt itself (as seen by the share price drop).
3) There was not even a mention of Snow Leopard. This is a pivotal release, especially in light of the current media buzz about Windows 7. This new operating system is of much greater importance than a new iLife update. If Apple decided, for whatever reason, not to put on a demo of Snow Leopard today, they should have at least made some mention of when a beta will be released and what the anticipated release date will be. After all Microsoft have already announced that a beta of Windows 7 will be released this month, and that they hope to have the final out before the end of 2009.
The 17″ MacBook Pro looks like a good companion to the 15″ model, but at that price Apple needs to remember that companies such as HP, Dell, and Lenovo have already come out with quad-core 17″ notebooks… in the same price range.
We can only hope that Apple won’t wait too long before the invitations go out for another media event. There are too many Apple products (Mac mini, Mac Pro, iMac, 20″ & 30″ Apple Cinema Displays, Apple TV, etc.) that have been languishing for much too long, and are in dire need of updates (go to http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ to see how long these products have gone without updates).
Eh, for what it’s worth, I think you’re wrong when you say things like “Anything they do now will be a derivation of something they’ve already done and people will necessarily be disappointed” and “there is no longer anything new Apple can do that will have the Zing Factor of the iPhone”. Before the iPhone, one might have said the same thing, but then it hit and it was huge. There’s always new technology and I think Apple will always be on the forefront of it. If the rest of use knew what the Next Big Thing was, we’d be rich.
I also disagree that Apple necessarily needs to make itself more Microsoft-y in order to grow more marketshare. I don’t think it needs additional marketshare, on the desktop market. Everywhere else, they seem to be doing OK. In fact, think of the last time Apple did something *really* innovative on the desktop? I’m having a hard time… it’s all mobile, phones, laptops, what have you. And Apple has been strong in all those places.
Anyway, I’m rambling, but I really just wanted to post to chide you… if you’re going to stoop into the internet gutter and use the word “fanboys” at least don’t bastardize it into the hideous “phanboiz”… seriously
))