Yesterday, Apple announced that it was walking away from the Macworld Expo. Not only would Steve Jobs be sitting this year out, but the company would also be absent entirely from the 2010 expo.

This of course led to a flood of new speculation on Jobs' health. Was the Apple CEO in such failing health that he could no longer do a keynote address? Probably not.

Even if Jobs were too ill to make it, Apple's track record indicates that they'd keep such information under wraps until they absolutely had to.

Instead, the decision to send Phil Schiller instead of jobs should underscore just how much Apple is trying to distance itself from Macworld. It's the company's way of saying "don't expect much."

Perhaps Apple is just tired of being tied to the Macworld schedule. January really isn't the prime buying season, and we all know how much this company loves to make a big splash with a product release. Most of the time, having to unveil a product months before its release, or give away all of the secrets on a product still in development really kills a lot of the wow factor Apple so desperately craves.

One should also remember one of the central tenets about Apple: they're control freaks. Having to be told when and where he gets to unveil the latest and greatest from his company has to drive Jobs and everyone in Cupertino a bit crazy at times. Not having to come up with new stuff to share every January will without a doubt make things easier for Apple, though it will most certainly make life very, very difficult for the organizers of the Macworld Expo.

18 Dec 2008