[psmith2.0]

Can someone give me a brief rundown why this is so lackluster and not seen as anything special?

Why does Apple not participate? Why the wisecracks and sense of "so what?" surrounding it?

Did Apple's pullout create the apathy OR was there just this general sense of "Boston can't be good for this" CAUSING Apple to pull out? Which came first? What's the basic gist of this whole situation, please.

I honestly missed all the brouhaha and was genuinely curious.

Two or three years ago, we'd all be wound up at the prospect of a Macworld Expo. Kinda sad that one starts tomorrow - albeit with no Apple presence - and it's just looked at as no big deal.



Was Apple wrong to pull out? What's the underlying context of the whole New York vs. Boston thing, in regards to this?

[Luca]

I think SJ just had a hissy fit when they wanted to move it to Boston, so now he's sitting in a corner pouting and refusing to attend.

[psmith2.0]

Surely there's got to me more to it than that. What does Jobs care where it's at, as long as there is plenty of exhibitor space, good attendance, good press coverage, a big black stage with a screen, some bottled water and platforms rising out of the floor at his command?



Seriously...what's the beef? Boston isn't exactly some backwater town, devoid of a strong Mac community. What, did he think people wouldn't show up to his keynote in Boston, like they do in NYC and SF?

[Luca]

From what I've read, Apple didn't want IDG (the company running the expo) to move it to Boston, but they did anyway. So they said, "Well, you did something we don't like, so now we won't attend." Apple's presence is kind of essential to the success of something like this, which is why it was considered a negotiating tactic (ThinkSecret article).

I'm not sure WHY Apple was unhappy for the move to Boston though... maybe because of past events there? Or something more mundane?

[psmith2.0]

How odd. And silly.

Steve, being a Kerry supporter, shouldn't have much of a problem with Boston.

I'd love to know the "why" of all this. Now that I understand, according to Luca, the "what" (Apple balking at the move).

Yeah, a Macworld without Apple is definitely missing something.

If nothing else, they could've not announced the new iMac there!

"Good morning. We have lots to talk about today - well, not a new iMac - so let's get right to it...".

[DMBand0026]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 If nothing else, they could've not announced the new iMac there! "Good morning. We have lots to talk about today - well, not a new iMac - so let's get right to it...".

That would be colossally embarrassing for Apple. Having SJ get up there to give a keynote only to have to answer the same question on everyone's mind, "what the crap happened with the iMacs."

As if Apple running out of their #1 consumer machine wasn't bad enough.


Back OT: I have wondered about the MacWord event in Boston too. Seems so...uhhh...:yawn:. If you know what I mean. I seem to remember it being a big deal years ago, but that's when it was in NY, right?
Or I could be wrong about all this. Someone go ask Chris, he's married to Steve, right?

[thuh Freak]

pffft. bastan sucks. the cit-e is where its at.

[ShiggyMiyamoto]

Damnit this sucks... Didn't Apple start the MacWorld Tradition? Grr....

[applenut]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Surely there's got to me more to it than that. What does Jobs care where it's at, as long as there is plenty of exhibitor space, good attendance, good press coverage, a big black stage with a screen, some bottled water and platforms rising out of the floor at his command? Seriously...what's the beef? Boston isn't exactly some backwater town, devoid of a strong Mac community. What, did he think people wouldn't show up to his keynote in Boston, like they do in NYC and SF?

1. ny is the publishing capital of the world
2. there is a hell of a lot more free press in NY than in Boston
3. Apple prefereed it there for those reasons and im sure just preference.
4. it gives apple an excuse to get away from a summer macworld.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by applenut 4. it gives apple an excuse to get away from a summer macworld.

I think this is the biggest one. Apple didn't leave MW simply because of a tiff with IDG; although, I'm sure that was the cherry on top of a stack of reasons to get away.

• Summer MacWorld attendance (by both vendors and consumers) has been shrinking. On the other hand, WWDC attendance has been growing.
• With the WWDC (and other private press releases), Apple can have much stricter control over every aspect of the conference. Let's not forget that Apple is a control whore!
• The Jobs circus act is slowly dying. Apple has quietly announced several new products and updates in the past couple of years outside of the big MacWorld events. Why would Apple want to wait until a big event like MacWorld and spend oodles of dollars to announce, say, iMac v3 when it can be done in Cupertino behind closed doors to a hand-picked group of press members?

[thequicksilver]

Originally Posted by Brad [*]The Jobs circus act is slowly dying. Apple has quietly announced several new products and updates in the past couple of years outside of the big MacWorld events. Why would Apple want to wait until a big event like MacWorld and spend oodles of dollars to announce, say, iMac v3 when it can be done in Cupertino behind closed doors to a hand-picked group of press members?

You're right to an extent, but let's look at Apple's big launches, ie the launches of entirely new Apple products, so a new design as opposed to a simple processor upgrade etc:

• iBook - Launched 2001 at special Apple press event.
• 12" and 17" Aluminium Powerbooks - Launched MWSF 2003.
• 15" Aluminium Powerbook - Launched Paris Expo 2003.
• iMac - Launched MWSF 2002.
• eMac - Initially released for education customers only, appears to only have been a press release job.
• Powermac - WWDC 2003.
• iPod - Special music event 2003.
• iPod mini - MWSF 2004.

While Airport Express was released quietly, Airport Extreme was launched at MWSF 2003. (Don't forget that on the day of launch for AExp, Jobs did introduce it while being interviewed by Walt Mossberg of the WSJ at the D3 expo thing.) The iSight and wireless keyboard/mouse were launched by Jobs in keynotes too.

Apple are certainly no longer launching every little update with a Jobs keynote, but they're more prevalent than you suggest.

[Ryan]

I believe the iTMS was also released in a special event.

"The biggest story in music"

And they are milking that phrase for everything its worth.

[thequicksilver]

Yep, you're right, it was on the same day as the 3G iPods. Forgot to note that in my list.

[Messiahtosh]

Since DMBand wanted me to reply, here goes:

Steve loves the press attention he gets when he goes to New York, not that he wouldnt get the same attention in Boston, it's just not the same. New York is freaking New York man! Boston is the city that wishes it were New York, even though Bostonians would die before admitting that.



Steve might have also not wanted to have the pressure of keynoting 2 Apple events within 3 months of each other, like he used to do when WWDC was in April, then there was MWNY in July. Now that WWDC is in June, it works out perfectly enough so that everything that would have been talked about at either event can be talked about at WWDC.

Apple just wanted to kill two birds with one stone and totally control the event, woo the developers (developers, developers, developers), and show off to consumers and the press.

Anyway, that's my take on it. It was a consolidation of 2 keynotes.

[drewprops]

Boy oh howdy do I remember a couple of stinkeroo keynotes, when there wasn't anything new to show and we sat there with our faces hanging out while Steve tap danced around the stage pooping out clouds of RDF gas to keep the Mac fans from storming the stage and dragging him out into the parking lot.

Even though the MWB thing blew up into a public tiff, I think that Apple's decision to ditch the event was a good idea. While Boston is, despite the Big Dig, a nice town, it can never have the same cachet as New York, New York. If Apple had attended and fully supported MWB the press would have been rife with stories about how Apple's "fading marketshare" forced them to downgrade locations for their convention.

In fact, watch and see how MWB is reported in the next little while....



Edit: OMG! Paul, how do you have almost 600 posts in here already? I must not be participating enough around here...

I went to the Mac world Boston, it was quite nice, the new convention center is great, and huge, I hope other vendors like Adobe took note and would be a flagship booth if apple does not attend next year.
the music booths and programs did well,
maybe macworld needs to focus on the creative products that use the apple platform.
and apple and steve jobs should not attend any macworlds
apple can use the internet to announce products, and peeps can go to the apple stores to view the announcement, then the product can be unveiled right in the apple store for viewing.