Macworld, the annual tech gathering for the Apple faithful in San Francisco, opens with a cloud hanging over it.
In a surprise move, the company recently shocked fans by announcing this year’s event is its last.
It also revealed that chief executive Steve Jobs would not present the keynote address, reigniting speculation his health has deteriorated following pancreatic cancer surgery in 2004.
Some analysts, however, see Mr Jobs’ decision as part of a succession plan.
“Steve is clearly beginning to share the spotlight with some other executives and sooner or later someone has to step up to the CEO role,” said Van Baker, vice-president of research for IT consulting firm Gartner.
“I don’t think this is about Steve’s health. I think he is trying to back off from being a ‘one man band’ and he is trying to make way for a possible succession and spread the wealth among the executive team that Apple has,” explained Mr Baker to BBC News.
Apple has said the reason for pulling out of future shows is because it feels the forum does not provide value for money.
In an earlier statement, the company said that “every week 3.5m people visit our retail stores. And like many companies, trade shows are a minor part of how Apple reaches its customers”.
Rumour mill
With Apple refusing to answer questions about Mr Jobs’ health, concern and rumour continues to take on a life of its own. Much of it was sparked off in the middle of last year when he appeared at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference looking very thin and gaunt.
Just last week Gizmodo.com, a popular tech and gadget website, posted a report from an anonymous source who said Mr Jobs’ health was “rapidly declining”.
Within minutes, Apple stock dipped from $87.92 (£60.60) to $84.72 (£58.42). It rallied at the end of the day but this demonstrates how sensitive the market is to the issue.
Mr Baker, however, believes there really is nothing to worry about when it comes to either the health of Apple’s boss or that of the company he has been credited with turning into such a dominant force.
“I think it’s much ado about nothing, to be honest with you. Of course I could be wrong, but I think if he had anything that was truly life threatening there is an onus on the board and on him to share that with shareholders,” stated Mr Baker.
However, some analysts believe that Apple will suffer without Mr Jobs at the helm.
“Apple can’t survive the way it is without Steve Jobs,” Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the San Jose Mercury News.
“It will have to change dramatically because it’s been so designed around Steve.”
That view is upheld by LA Times columnist Michael Hiltzik, who asks what he calls the crass question – “What is Apple Inc’s plan if CEO Steve Jobs dies?”
Mr Hiltzik wrote: “I hope the day when Apple has to contemplate life without Steve Jobs stays far, far in the future. But the value of the company and the perception of its future are now tied, at least in the short term, to the public perception of his future.”
Silent protest
Mr Jobs’ decision not to present Tuesday’s keynote speech now means the spotlight will be turned on Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing, Phil Shiller, who will stand in.
The presentation has in the past been likened to that of a rock concert, with the audience cheering every announcement. It has also been a highly visible platform for Steve Jobs, who has delighted the Mac fans by giving them a first glimpse of new products such as the iPhone, the iPod and the Mac Air book among others.
“This really feels like we are making a pilgrimage to the mother ship to see what Steve is going to give us for the next year,” explained Lesa Snider King, who met her husband at Macworld and planned the wedding around the expo in 2006.
As a long time Mac user, regular Macworld attendee, and Mac training instructor, Ms Snider King told the BBC she was so disappointed at Apple’s decision to pull out of future shows that she had organised a protest. She has called on the Mac community to stay silent during Mr Shiller’s keynote address.
“I don’t want anybody to be rude, or throw things or heckle or anything. Our anger will speak volumes by us not saying anything. This isn’t personal against Mr Shiller but it’s aimed at sending a message to Apple,” Ms Snider King explained.
“There is a whole ecosystem that centres around Macworld and it’s not just about Apple. There are hundreds of mom-and-pop companies who will be adversely affected,” she said.
Ms Snider King added that while she has had a lot of positive response, there has been something of a backlash to her idea.
“There have been quite a number of very vile, mean personal attacks over it which I have found shocking. I never dreamt in a million years that I would have people calling me names that I don’t dare repeat. But this is important. Apple pulling out of Macworld has the potential to kill the show.
“Apple have always had this thing about eating their young and I feel that is what they have done here,” said Ms Snider King.
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I can’t believe what I’m reading. All across the Web, reporters are saying that at Apple’s press event next week, the company will unveil an $800 Mac to appeal to those looking to spend less on an Apple computer.
Anyone who has followed Apple since its inception knows that the very idea that Apple could actually compete on the same level as its competitors on price is a shocker. For years, the company has wanted to be considered a boutique vendor that doesn’t submit to price leadership to sell units.
Steve Jobs went out of his way to create good-looking devices with a unique experience so he wouldn’t have to charge less for his computers and it worked like a charm.
Mac sales have never been higher, and it’s quickly becoming apparent that people are more than willing to spend the additional cash to own a Mac. And yet, the rumors that Apple will sell an $800 Mac simply won’t go away.
Now, I’m a firm believer that Apple should start lowering its prices to appeal to more consumers and take the fight to Hewlett-Packard and Dell, but if Apple’s plan next week is to offer cheaper Macs, I can’t help but wonder if this is Apple’s new strategy going forward.
I think it is.
Remember when we all made a fuss over how high the price of the original iPhone was? Do you remember when we all rejoiced as Apple announced that the lower-end iPhone would retail for $199?
And if you look at the iPod, now you can spend as little as $49 for the iPod Shuffle, $149 for an iPod Nano, and $229 for the iPod Touch. And just in case you want an Apple TV, the entry-level price of $229 isn’t too bad for a set-top box with that kind of functionality.
Do you see what I’m getting at here? Apple is quickly becoming a company that offers high-quality products at a relatively affordable price. And if it decides to sell a Mac for $800, I don’t think there’s any debating the fact that Jobs has decided to change his company’s business model.
And what a change that would be. As I mentioned, Apple is a boutique vendor on a number of levels and has decided that it would rather offer products for a higher price than play the pricing game. But as economic conditions change and people need to think more about their wallets than they may have over the past few years, Apple feels it needs to change its course and compete more effectively against HP and Dell.
Will it work? I can guarantee that it will. But what will it do to Apple’s image? As long as the company continues providing high-quality products that easily eclipse the competition, I don’t think it will have anything to worry about on that front either.
Apple’s decision to offer a cheaper Mac is a smart one. But it goes beyond a cheaper product. In reality, Apple is now a changed company that will compete on price. And it’s because of that that its competitors should be scared.
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Leopard, the latest update of the Apple Mac operating system OS X, goes on sale on Friday.
The release ends months of waiting for Mac fans, after Apple pushed back the launch to finish development on its much-hyped iPhone.
Early reviews for Leopard have been positive with veteran technology writer Walt Mossberg calling it “evolutionary, not revolutionary”.
Apple is hoping to build on recent strong sales of its Mac computers.
In the last three months, Apple sold 2.2 million Macs, up 400,000 on its previous best quarter.
The company is touting Leopard as a Vista-beater, pointing to new features not found in the new operating system (OS) from Microsoft that drives many PCs.
Leopard, the latest update of the Apple Mac operating system OS X, goes on sale on Friday.
The release ends months of waiting for Mac fans, after Apple pushed back the launch to finish development on its much-hyped iPhone.
Early reviews for Leopard have been positive with veteran technology writer Walt Mossberg calling it “evolutionary, not revolutionary”.
Apple is hoping to build on recent strong sales of its Mac computers.
In the last three months, Apple sold 2.2 million Macs, up 400,000 on its previous best quarter.
The company is touting Leopard as a Vista-beater, pointing to new features not found in the new operating system (OS) from Microsoft that drives many PCs.
‘Few disappointments’
In the New York Times, technology columnist David Pogue wrote: “Happy surprises, and very few disappointments, lie around every corner.”
At the MacLiveExpo, being held in London, there was a mixed response from attendees on whether they would be rushing out to buy Leopard on day one.
Many of the delegates said they would wait for the operating system to “bed down” before they bought it.
“I never buy any operating system when it first comes out. I normally wait until it has been out for six months or a year,” said David Ramage, a Mac user from Luton.
He added: “Tiger does what I need it to do right now. I’ve not seen anything in Leopard to make me want to buy it immediately.”
For developers, a new operating system means having to work to ensure their programs run smoothly on the new platform.
Ben Rudolph, director of communications at SWSoft, makers of Parallels, said Leopard was a big step forward for Apple and “would continue to drive sales of Macs”.
Parallels lets users run Windows and Linux alongside OS X on a single Apple machine.
Mr Rudolph said Parallels would run smoothly under Leopard, barring any last minute changes to the code released by Apple.
“If that happens, we’ll release a free, automatic update to account for them very soon after Leopard’s launch,” he said.
Of the new features in Leopard, Mr Rudolph said he was looking forward to being able to take advantage of his Mac’s 64-bit architecture.
The new OS takes full advantage of the latest generation of chips inside Apple machines, while running applications on older processors also.
“I’m also looking forward to new user-experience features like Stacks, which should help me organise my incredibly messy desktop, and Spaces, which lets me cycle between different desktops.”
Nik Rawlinson, editor of MacUser magazine, said many users would get Leopard in its first few weeks on sale.
“When Tiger was launched it earned Apple $120m very quickly and all the expectations are that sales will be double that.”
He added: “Vista has been quite a disappointment for many people and Leopard could be the reason many people make the switch to Macs.”
He said he felt Leopard had enough new features to distinguish itself from Microsoft’s Vista.
“A lot of things that were previously only add-ons in the Mac world, such as the Apple TV interface, are now integrated into the OS.
“That is competing directly with Media Center on Windows PCs. Apple has seen that Microsoft has moved forward in some areas and is responding.”
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