Taking the stage at Apple’s final Macworld Expo, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller stepped into Steve Jobs’s shoes and got set to deliver "three new things" to the Macintosh faithful: iLife ‘09, iWork ‘09, and a new 17-inch MacBook Pro.
Acknowledging the controversy surrounding Apple’s decision to abandon Macworld Expo, Schiller showed images of Apple’s successful retail store operation, noting the stores bring in 3.4 million visitors every week…and that’s the equivalent of 100 Macworld Expos every week. The implication in Schiller’s presentation is that Apple doesn’t believe it need to shell out millions of dollars (and considerable effort) to reach a comparatively small gathering of its most faithful customers…and, in hosting its own product announcement events (as it has with the iPhone 3G and recent iPod and MacBook announcements), the company has proven it doesn’t need the publicity boost provided by the Expo to announce new products.
