Apple Won't Be At Macworld Boston

analog_line writes "Apple apparently is none too pleased about the decision to move Macworld to Boston from New York in 2004. So much so that they have said that they 'will not be participating in Macworld Boston.' They are also considering pulling out of Macworld New York 2003, though they say they will be at Macworld San Francisco."

Comments

Big Dig?

[Christopher_G_Lewis]

Can you blame them given current (well, the past 5-10 years :-) traffic conditions in downtown Boston?

Re:Big Dig?

[smithmc]

Can you blame them given current (well, the past 5-10 years :-) traffic conditions in downtown Boston?

Traffic, schmaffic. Even with the Big Dig, I'm not sure I'd say the traffic is much worse than downtown Manhattan. And, while admittedly I haven't driven in NYC since 9/11, I can't imagine that it helped matters any. Oh, and the major airports in NYC aren't connected almost directly to downtown by a nice convenient new tunnel, now, are they?

Besides, Boston's just as nice a place to have a convention. It's a very walkable city (attendees can follow the Freedom Trail after lunch and get some exercise), good transit, and John Harvard's, too. ;-)

Are they insane?

[Latent IT]

From the article:

Following Apple's statement, an IDG World Expo representative said the company had no indication from Apple that the Mac maker would pull out of the show if it was moved to Boston.

Seriously, when you're doing *MAC*World, and making a major change, you'd think they'd ask Apple what they thought.

Product release schedules

[stevenprentice]

Apple has always fought with sales droughts before MacWorld shows. People anticipate new products and don't want to buy the current products until they know what's coming.

By only participating in one MacWorld per year they alliviate some of these problems.

I am not saying that I think Apple will go to a year long product release cycle, I just think they are actively fighting the pre-MacWorld sales problem. I also think Apple will continue with the recent trend of releasing more and more products out of the MacWorld cycle.

Re:no G5s or PPC 750s, then

[jgalun]

I think you're exactly right. I think this decision is based on a couple factors that have nothing to do with the move from New York to Boston:

Apple has very little in the way of new products to announce for a while. Sure, there will be a PowerBook revamp soon, but let's face it, until a new PowerPC chip comes out, Apple basically has nothing that exciting to introduce. Sure, there'll be a new iApp or two, maybe some bigger monitors, or minor speed increases in existing lines, but that's hardly a very big deal.

People make such a big deal out of keynotes since Jobs came back that when there isn't anything big to introduce, there is a decent amount of bitterness in the Mac community. Jobs does not want to be in the position of creating bitterness by giving more keynotes with nothing to introduce.

Jobs has been trying to break the connection of product announcements with keynote speeches anyway. When everyone expects there to be big introductions at the keynote, people stop buying Macs before the keynotes, in case a product line is refreshed. This makes it hard for Apple to clear out inventory - why buy an iMac in June if you think a new one will be introduced in July?

MacWorld shows may no longer be as important as they used to be, anyway. Most hard-core Mac users - the kind who would pay for a ticket to the keynote, or pay to travel to New York/Boston - have Internet access and read MacCentral, MacRumors, etc. So it's not like Apple needs the convention to reach these people. Besides, this audience is basically loyal to Apple regardless of what Apple does. On the other hand, Apple does want very badly to attract new users - the switchers. The money spent attending MacWorlds may be better spent on more TV ads targetting PC users.

What the hell?

[Andy Dodd]

So the convention is held in a different city.

*WHY* is Apple having such an immature hissy-fit.

Let's see, valid reasons for Boston:
Apparently, tradition. Until 1998, Boston is where MW Expo was held for 12 years in a row
Cost - Boston has offered some pretty serious discounts on the cost of renting their convention center for this show

Valid reasons for disliking a move to Boston:
None that I can think of. Apple hasn't given a *SINGLE* reason for their desire to stay in New York.

If Apple was based in the NYC area, I could understand it... But once you're crossing from the West Coast to the East Coast, who cares if you're going 200 or so extra miles? The difference in travel cost is negligible, especially considering the cost of actually hosting the show will apparently be far less in Boston.

I'm forced to agree with the guy who got marked down to -1 Flamebait for making the comment about Steve Jobs and a baby bottle. This decision by Apple is stupid, immature, and nonsensical (especially given Apple's financial state...)

Re:Can they afford to do this?

[Nomad7674]

I am not sure this is really what everyone is saying it is about. It is easy to forget, but New York City was the site of the 9/11 attacks. Every movement of a major trade show, event, concert, etc. is going to be noted, criticized, and pushed through the New York Press which is read by the majority of the world. Since obviously the New York Press would be against a major trade show like MacWorld moving out of New York, it would likely cause a lot of bad press for Apple. And it is a lot easier for Apple to simply not rock the boat right now. I suspect that if IDG had waited another year before making the announcement, Apple would have been a lot more open to it. Right now, they don't want any bad press, if they can avoid it.

My two cents.

Some clarifications.

[mikedaisey]

The $45 million dollar loss that people keep linking to comes from one-time charges, mostly Apple writing off investments--and when you have over $4 billion in the bank, losing $45 million is nothing. Had they not taken the write downs, they would have had an expected profit this last quarter.

This has NOTHING to do with hissy fits and everything to do with:

a)Not looking like they are abandoning NYC.

b)Apple knows that when they are in NYC, they have the ear of the media. Moving to Boston is not in their interest as they will get less ink.

c)When those costs are figured, suddenly it seems like an excuse to get out of/cut down on the Expos.

d)Wean people off of the Expo release/disappointment death cycle, which screws up their product flow.

e)Concentrate their money not on the Mac Geek Faithful but instead on Regular Folks Who Might Switch.

You look at all this, and it's a slam dunk...it's too good an opportunity to pass up.

Possibility: maybe Apple will take the money it saves and instead go to PCExpo, and make a stand for the Mac there. I can imagine this happening, as they'd get lots of press for showing up and would strengthen their committment to expanding the base.

too hard to wow folks every six months

[Aqua OS X]

Apple has been looking down upon Macworld NY for a while now. Disliking the move to Boston is simply an excuse for Apple to back out of MacWorld NY without looking like a jerk.

I would imagine that it is hard to "wow" folks on a set date every six months. People expect to get blown away by a Jobs keynote, however, that's kind of hard to do when a product isn't quite ready or a when a product is ready for sale months before Macworld.

Apple really been having a hard time syncing up with MacWorld dates during the past year so. MacWorld keynote have been fairly week, and Apple has been announcing and releasing a lot of products at "Apple Events," which they can schedule at any given time.

It'll probably be a hell of a lot easier for Apple to wow folks once a year at a set time, and at random Apple expos the rest of the time. But, nevertheless, it sure does look bad for Apple to back out of a huuuuuge trade show dedicated to them. At the very least they could show up and release a press release telling people not to expect new Apple hardware/software at they show. I think Apple should stick with Macworld, however they should inform their users, the press, and investors to concentrate on Apple events... not MacWorld expos.