Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) announced yesterday that this year will be the last it exhibits at Macworld Expo, the annual trade show that has become the event where CEO Steve Jobs unveils the company's latest creations. The company further threw water on January's event by announcing that Jobs will not deliver his traditional Macworld keynote address. "Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers," the company said in a statement.

"The increasing popularity of Apple's Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

"Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris."

"I'm stunned that Apple has taken a 25-year-old event that has been the single best meeting place for the entire community of users and vendors of Apple-related products and treated it like a piece of garbage stuck to the bottom of its shoe," wrote Macworld.com editor Jason Snell, whose publication is not directly tied to the event produced by IDG World Expo.

"Macworld Conference & Expo has thrived for 25 years due to the strong support of tens of thousands of people in the Mac community worldwide who use [Expo] as a way to find great products, partake in professional development training and cultivate their personal and professional networks," Paul Kent, vice president and general manager of IDG World Expo, told Macworld.com.

"We are committed to serve their interests at the Moscone Center, January 4-8 2010."

Related Links:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2008/12/16macworld.html

http://www.macworld.com/article/137596/2008/12/apple_kills_expo_reax.html

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/12/jobs-wont-appea.html