Reason Apple is going down today...

[incognegro]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/17/apple...index.html

very interesting take on this announcement.

To keep its position as one of the tech industry's most buzz-generating machines, Apple will need to find something to duplicate that experience without attending Macworld. And that of course brings up the elephant that has been in Apple's room all year long: the future of Jobs' association with Apple.

Apple declined to comment specifically on Jobs' health Tuesday, but the company has had to fight off rumors of a recurrence of his cancer ever since June, when he appeared to have lost a lot of weight. The move to have Phil Schiller keynote Macworld doesn't necessarily give any credence to those rumors--although watch the stock market run wild with them tomorrow--but no matter how you slice it, Apple the corporation is going to outlive Jobs the CEO.

The end of Apple's association with Macworld gives the company a chance to introduce new faces and new methods of putting together its most important marketing presentations of the year. Apple has been making room for executives other than Jobs for years on the keynote stage, but the most important topics were always reserved for Jobs alone.

And Macworld was always going to be associated with Jobs' legendary performances; very few current Apple executives could have hoped to duplicate that exact role.

It may seem obvious to say this, but Apple's performance in the future will mostly rely on the quality of its products rather than its marketing vehicle of choice. Still, don't discount the role that Apple's singular ability to whip the digerati into a frenzy has played in the company's fortunes over the last five years.