Just last night, I was talking to my wife about us planning to go for Macworld 2010 road trip. This morning, I opened up NetNewsWire and I was greeted by this bombshell – Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld press release.

CUPERTINO, California–December 16, 2008–Apple® today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.

Yes, so much for planning ahead.

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 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 used to participate in two Macworld Expo in the US, one in SF in the beginning of the year and one in Boston (sometimes New York) at the middle of the year which they stopped in 2002. Since then, Macworld SF became an annual event which Apple fans and detractors look forward to see what Apple will release for that year. Weeks before the keynote address by Steve Jobs, there will be rumors flying from all sides, building up to that famous “One More Thing” speech.

Though there are many hits, sometimes there were misses, but most of us Apple fans do look forward towards the second Tuesday in January every year to bask in the reality distortion field. The fortunate ones will be up early in the morning at Moscone Center just to get the best seats, while the rest of us, especially us in the other side of the globe, will stay up late to follow the various live feeds (used to be live streaming) and the constant refreshing of the Apple site.

Sadly, there will not be a Mac-ca that Apple fans can go after next year’s Macworld. Though I’ve not been there, but from reading news, blogs and listening to podcasts, Macworld SF is not just a place and time to look at Apple’s latest products, but more so for fans from the world to gather, meet and share stories. Though Macworld will still go on in 2010, without Apple’s participation, it will be different, very different.

Image from FakeSteve blog

Oh yeah, one more thing – Steve Jobs will also not be giving the keynote address for Macworld 2009 – Philip Schiller will take the stage. Though much news throughout this year was about Steve Jobs’ health, he not doing the keynote for next year’s Macworld is not due to poor health, according to CNBC’s Jim Goldman

I can tell you that sources inside the company tell me that Jobs’ decision was more about politics than his pancreas. Sources tell me that if Jobs for some reason was unable to perform any of his responsibilities as CEO because of health reasons, which would include the Macworld keynote, I should “rest assured that the board would let me know.”

So, news of the day, and for days to come for Apple fans – no Steve Jobs for Macworld 2009 and more importantly – no more Apple for Macworld after 2009.

Interesting views from the rest of the web:

• CNBC’s Jim Goldman – Steve Jobs’ fine, not so for Macworld
• Macworld will go on
• Jason Snell of Macworld magazine on what went wrong and what Macworld Expo can do

The departure of Apple will in all likelihood do for the San Francisco show what it did for the East Coast version: Lead to a mass exodus of other vendors until the show is basically a conference with a withered, vestigial trade-show limb. I hope it doesn’t happen, because I do think that the Mac, iPod, and iPhone markets are strong, vibrant markets that don’t require close proximity to Apple in order to shine. But even in the best economic times–and these ain’t those, friend–promoting a Macworld Expo without Apple is going to be hard.

• Rob Griffiths on The end of an era for Macworld Expo especially on fans and small developers

The other group that will really feel the impact of Apple’s announcement are small developers. As a small developer, exhibiting at Expo presented the opportunity for great success. Sure, you needed to have an excellent product with an eye-catching booth to grab some attendee attention…but if you had that, you could find your product taking off in a big way, as the 50,000-plus attendees who had the chance to try out your product at Expo flew home and spread the word of your greatness. We’ll see that in the upcoming Expo, of course, with those who’ve already made their plans for the event.

Lastly, besides canceling on Macworld 2010, Apple also canceled Christmas

CUPERTINO, California–December 16, 2008–Apple® today announced that this is the last year for Christmas. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, spoke at a joint press conference held with Santa Claus at the North Pole this morning. He announced: “Apple has been honored to work with the North Pole the last several years to make Christmas possible, however, we have decided together that this is the last year for Christmas.”

How ironic that the new Get A Mac ad features Mac and PC animated in a Christmas setting – I can do anything and Tree trimmings

Share this if you liked it:

•