Macworld Expo Downgraded To Moderately Boring
With Apple CEO Steve Jobs dumping his long standing relationship with the annual Macworld Expo, one analyst appears to have downgraded expectations for anything remotely interesting to take place at the January event. Positioning the wildly popular Expo in a category just above 'snorefest' because of no new Apple products.
"With [Apple marketing chief] Phil Schiller delivering the keynote, we believe it suggests there will not be any revolutionary products at this year's event." analyst Gene Munster told his clients.
This unexpected blow could trigger an immediate sell-off of Macworld
passes by jittery Mac faithful looking for any new reason to cut their
losses early in order to overt a disaster. It also raises the bar for Phil Schiller, who will need to deliver the kind of
shock and awe in his keynote address that could be seen from outer space.
Munster went on to raise hopes predicting that a new iPhone form factor with slider keyboard could make an appearance by Spring, after first killing any shred of hope for a new iPhone release at Macworld. A bold statement which appears to crush the fantasy of seeing the rumored iPhone nano.
"While we believe it is unlikely that a new iPhone will be released at Macworld, we continue to expect a new model by the end of the March quarter," Munster wrote. "Specifically, we believe Apple could introduce a lower-end model that is slightly thicker due to the inclusion of a slider keyboard for students (texting) and business use (email) between $99 and $149."
Since the Steve Jobs, MacWorld break-up, several reports have surfaced that Apple's CEO has been spotted around the Bay Area keeping late night company with other event organizers. It's not unusual that El Jobso may already be seeing other people so soon. He was clearly over Macworld, having no problem pulling off an extremely ugly, public break-up in the press. We were unable to confirm sighting reports.
See Joy of Tech for other Macworld Expo alternatives.
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