No Mac At MacWorld?

It looks like Steve Jobs won't be making an appearance at this year's MacWorld, which only means one thing: Wild, crazy speculation! Is he sick? Is this the end of Mac as we know it? Will the aliens strike that day? Is Steve really in a semi-comatose state, operating solely through holograms for the past two years as his loyal lap dogs control him from behind the curtain a la Wizard of Oz?

And Apple has announced that they will not be present at MacWorlds going forward. They will even be cutting their expo budget as their increased market share and general public appeal increase. Again, ?

Personally, I think it's a bit silly for a company to make a statement like this:

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.

Ok.... so, you've become to cool to hang out with us dorks, is that what you're trying to say Apple?

When you have a huge 8% market share, you should absolutely start focusing on other, less core-centric avenues to sow your wild oats. Unless, of course, Apple is referring to products other than their MacBooks and iMacs, in which case they are dominating or competeing very well.

My wild speculation? It's the economy, stupid. When you sell high end products, your company may suffer a bit in economic downturns. Also, I think we'll see a stronger focus on non-computer products. Oh, and Apple HQ is really run by monkeys and powered by their feces. Will we see Apple at the geek-gasm fest that is Consumer Eletronics Show (CES) in the future? Yeah, probably not.

No Steve Jobs at This Year's Macworld--And No Apple at Next Year's [Gearlog]