Steve Jobs: the ultimate “one more thing”?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 18 December 2008 10:36

IT Industry - Market

The news has spread far and wide that Steve Jobs won’t be giving the Stevenote at Macworld 2009, or attending future Macworlds, with Apple semi-lamely sending in Philip Schiller, the senior VP of worldwide marketing, to shill Apple’s latest and greatest, instead. Still, could the antidote to the bitter pill of the Schiller make way for the ultimate “one more thing” – a last minute appearance by Steven P. Jobs himself?

Macworld is facing a Jobs cut, said one of the headlines, poking fun at Apple and reminding us all of the growing unemployment numbers worldwide.

Macworld without Apple attending, and Macworld without Steve Jobs, seems inconceivable. Without Apple in attendance, will Macworld instead become the world’s largest and most expensive showcase of iPhone cases and Apple accessories?

Of course, Macworld isn’t just that. Apple’s ecosystem of third party software, hardware and accessories really shines at Macworld events, but the atmosphere at Macworld 2010 sure will be different without the company responsible for it all actually being there in person.

Ever since Apple announced that Macworld 2009 would be its last, and delivered the even bigger shock that Steve Jobs wouldn’t be giving his customary keynote, the rumours have swirled as to why.

Is Steve Jobs suffering a relapse of his cancer? Is there nothing “insanely great” to demo this time around? Is Apple sick and tired of launching new products in January, and missing out on the previous year’s crazy Christmas season?

Perhaps Steve Jobs was insulted by the lampooning he got on The Simpsons, or perhaps after a year of speculation and innuendo over what Apple would be like without Steve Jobs at the helm, Jobs is forcing the issue and getting people seriously thinking about a Jobs-free Apple now, rather than at some future point in time.

Of course, Apple and Jobs haven’t confirmed anything about his future plans or health, and Jobs could well be set to deliver many more Macworld style launches in the future, but at times of Apple’s own choosing.

After all, Apple still has its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), and any time Apple makes any kind of announcement, be it for new products and services, or updates to the Mac OS X, the blogosphere goes into meltdown to cover every last detail of Apple’s latest announcement.

Rumours for Macworld 2009 have included a US$99 iPhone, an iPhone nano, a new Mac Mini, and the mythical netMac netbook, which may or may not also have a touch screen, thus turning it into the perfect combination of ultra portable Mac and large iPhone.

There’s also much talk that Apple will demonstrate the new features and capabilities of its OS X 10.6 operating system, a day or two before  the other Steve, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, steps on stage to fill Bill Gates’ shoes, to publicly launch and demo the official Windows 7 beta.

Continued on page 2, please read on!