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Apple Cancels Apple Expo 2001
Ziploc writes: "Apple today announced the cancellation of Apple Expo 2001, which was scheduled to take place at Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles, from September 26th to 30th, 2001.
See the press release here."
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Steve Jobs promised "No new hardware at Expo Paris."
Looks like he'll be keeping his promise!
Apple will also be donating an iBook to each of these families with children.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
On one hand, I sympathize with security concerns. This is a frightening time. On the other hand, is a congregation of nerds in Paris really much of a target? If the terrorists were going after intellectuals, they could have crashed into harvard or MIT (15 minutes into their flight from boston). If they want to damage the economy, damaging such a narrow (1 company+peripheral manufacturers) target wouldn't be nearly effective as hitting, for instance, the Stock exchange. It's like my school, where janitors were posted to make sure nobody bombed. Seems like a bit of paranoia to me, but on the other hand Apple didn't have much to say.
My Karma is so good, I'm the Dalai Lama...or something.
After all, they don't have many left as it is...
Strange, they are the only computercompany which didn't made a loss last quarter.
And the iBook and G4 ti is selling like crazy..
Typical anti Apple FUD as always.
but as much as I'd like to see things continue like normal, it is probably wise to cancel events such as these for a short time. Air travel has suffered a horrific blow that has made many unsure of the safety of air travel. I hate to see the world shut down over this but some things should be put on hold for a little while.
Apple really needs to refocus and release tech. info on their older systems anyhow. I've been fighting for 2 years to get driver-level specs for a Powerbook 1400, and have yet to recieve anything but a runaround. MacOS X based on a BSD core is pretty cool, but Apple just like IBM-clones need a choice. BeOS comes close, but neither of these will run on my PB. I'd hate to think I'd wasted my money.
Like Compaq, Toshiba, Dell and some other company's.
I have a five year old Pentium 90 laptop with 8 mb and Windows XP won't install on it.
Yeesh, get a live.
The powerbook 1400 is almost 5 years old.
And it isn't a PCI machine.
Snagged from Macnn.com:
Message from Steve
From: Steve Jobs
Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 07:12:15 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Message from Steve
Team,
Last week's devastating and tragic events have touched everyone at
Apple. We are all grieving for the victims and their families.
Thankfully, no Apple team members were among them. I know many of
you have taken time to support various relief efforts, give blood,
and support those around you. We all appreciate your extra efforts
to do so.
I want to let you know that Apple is donating one million dollars to
the families of the firefighters, police and other emergency
response personnel who lost their lives, through the American Red
Cross Disaster Relief Fund. In addition, we will donate one iBook to
each of these families with children this holiday season.
Also, today we are announcing the cancellation of Apple Expo 2001,
which was scheduled to take place in Paris on September 26-30. We
are very sorry to disappoint our customers and developers, but their
safety must be our primary concern at this time. Apple is a very
visible American company, and having a highly publicized event at
this time would be irresponsible.
We are also taking extra precautions to insure our safety. Apple
security will remain on heightened alert at all our facilities
around the world for the foreseeable future. Please immediately
report any suspicious events or personnel to security.
It's going to take time for the world to return to "normal", and
some things will never return to the way they were. The next few
months may be rocky. Please take the time you need for your
families, and please lean on one another. Together, we will all get
through this.
I want to commend everyone for their efforts throughout this
difficult time. As always, I am very proud of this team.
Steve
----
Am I the only one who thinks Microsoft is a misnomer? Perhaps Macrosoft would be a better fit?
Terrorists might view Apple as a target because of that.
The WTC didn't house many (if any) government offices, they were businesses.
Personally, I also think it's a little too reactionary; they should just beef up security and go on with the show.
There was a report on Marketplace on Friday about how many organizations within the US are cancelling their conventions because of the tragedy. The financial impact on the tourism industry of those cities is in the tens of millions of dollars. Think about it, if a convention has 30,000 people, and each person spends an average of $300 apiece on food, lodging, and such, then the loss of that one convention would mean the loss of $9 mil. in revenue.
We're already in the midst of one jihad, don't get another one started... :-P
As one of the Anonymous masses mentioned above, this is not merely an issue of fearing potential attack upon the expo itself. Each of these expos has 100+ exhibitors, all of whom need goods transported, on time, safely, and, worse, in this case, across international borders. This may be now, and for the next few weeks both more difficult, and probably more expensive.
Many companies nation, and even world-wide have issued directives stating that 'no one will be forced to fly'. Can you blame them for cancelling an event that may have been plagued by the resultant no-shows of the exhibitors? Business-wise it makes sense, and then, given that they are a prominent American corporation, the over-arching safety concern makes it a very sound decision indeed.