I’m really quiet surprised there was so many people who were bothered or disappointed by Apple’s keynote at Macworld this year. There was even an article covering it in my university’s student newspaper.

For those who don’t know, Apple announced in December that Steve Jobs wouldn’t be presenting at Macworld 2009 and that Apple would no longer be involved with the Macworld expo. It was later announced that Steve Jobs cancelled his appearance because of some minor, but serious health issues (though we’ve now found out it’s more serious than he originally though).

There are people who are disappointed in Steve Jobs’ absence from the event, those upset of the lackluster products/services that were announced, and those upset at both. Both really, it was the same type of presentation we were going to get, regardless of Steve Jobs or not.

I definitely understand that it’s easy to get nervous about Steve Jobs taking a leave of absence until June, but Apple will be alright. This isn’t the first time he’s done it, so I don’t think we have reason to worry.


Announcements from Apple are always on short notice.

It seems people were pretty pissed about Apple’s dual announcement of Steve Jobs ditching Macworld and that Apple would no longer be in any Macworlds with just weeks to go to Macworld 2009. But really, when has Apple ever made an announcement well in advance? The only thing that is ever known about Apple is WWDC. Events like those announcing new iPods are always done with two weeks notice.

Why is this? Who knows. It could be that Apple doesn’t want to announce events well in advance so they never postpone events due to bad time projections; it could be that Apple wants to minimize their chances of having something leaked; it could be something completely different. The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter. This is what Apple does and we may as well get used to it, if you’re not already.

A ‘proper’ goodbye from Macworld? Wait, what?

Some think a formal goodbye from Macworld from Steve Jobs, or Apple in general, was in order. I really don’t see why. Apple and Macworld weren’t married, nor were they dating. Hell, they never even had kids.

Macworld is just Macworld. It’s a regular expo like any other: CES, E3, or Mobile World Congress. Some people put it on a pedestal because it focuses strictly on Apple products and, until now, would always feature a keynote directly from Apple. I think people are blowing up the supposed grandeur of this event. Bill Gates never made a big deal about his last CES presentation. Why? Because it’s just business. He’s doing his job and he doesn’t need to make a fuss about things. Neither does Steve.

Apple is mysterious.

Everything Apple does is a mystery. Why don’t iPods have FM tuners? Why is the approval of iPhone apps vague, mysterious, and dependent on the current mood of the powers that be? Why is bluetooth missing on iPods when it’s available on mp3 players of equivalent value of other brands?

Apple is like a rubik’s cube, quantum physics, or women. It’s never really meant to be figured out. Apple works in mysterious ways and we’ll never know what they’re doing or why they’re doing it, they just will.

Steve Jobs should be okay, just give him time.

To the all the fanboy and fangirls of Steve Jobs, you can relax. He’s said He’ll be back in June, which should mean he’ll be at the keynote presentation for WWDC. So we’ll get our inevitable iPhone upgrade, along with updates on Snow Leopard’s progress, and other Apple goodies.

And remember, Macworld ‘09 would have been the same even if Steve Jobs had been there. Steve Jobs has had plenty of keynotes where he fails to announce anything really exciting and just bores the crowd. The only difference is that this time it was another person beating us with a stick of frozen boredom.