I came into the office this morning to see a colleague’s IM status reading ‘No Steve keynote at Macworld’, or something to that effect. Given that the news popped a couple hours earlier in international time, hopping onto Techmeme and the other tech news sites I usually frequent, there was plenty that the Internet had to say concerning Steve Jobs’ absence at Macworld 2009 due during the first week of January in San Francisco. Not only that, Apple’d also released an official statement that 2009 would be their last year exhibiting at Macworld, though organisers IDG state that Macworld would continue in 2010.

What I think this all really means:

• Steve’s Reality Distortion Field generator’s broken; getting replacement parts during the holiday season probably isn’t so easy, given the hordes of shoppers thronging the stores for last minute gift-shopping. Either that, or his health’s taken a turn for the worse. After all, he did look pretty gaunt at WWDC earlier in June this year. Hope that’s not the case.
• There’s nothing major to announce, so why send the top honcho when you can send a lower-ranked flunky in his place? I personally predict upgrades to the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro lineup, among other ‘educated’ guesses, but despite what the rumor mill appears to be saying these days, fat chance Apple’s going to announce a netbook. Given their propensity for premium products, the last thing that’d sell are low-end laptops priced at a premium, even with the famous fruit logo slapped on.
• It’s time to start grooming the future leader of Apple. Steve Jobs certainly isn’t immortal, and this is a good time as any to pass the torch on to someone else, and to drive home the point that Apple is run by a team, and not by a single man. Granted, every keynote Steve Jobs does is an event all by itself, but its obvious that there isn’t really anyone who can do it like he does. Savor those past keynotes, ’cause damnit, this’ll be my first trip to Macworld, and it had to be the one time Steve decides not to take the stage. On the other hand, one wonders why he decided not give the final keynote, given that this is Apple’s last year at Macworld; that would’ve been a fitting send-off.
• Ditching Macworld is something that Apple’s been toying with for a while, and given the current state of the economy, it makes even more sense to forgo the big, public spectacle. There’s also the argument that pre-Macworld, holiday sales of Apple merchandise slows down to a crawl, with everyone in anticipation of newer and better products announced. Times like these, the revenue from holiday sales like those would certainly come in handy.
• The trade show as we know it is dead. Belkin’s pulled out of Macworld, Seagate’s spending a great deal less at the upcoming CES, and CeBIT is all but dead. Why bother with events hosted by third parties (IDG organizes Macworld) when self-planned events i.e. WWDC offer more control over who gets in and what information goes out. Besides, one less tech trade show attended means more money in the bank. If Apple really wanted to demo their newfangled products to the public, that’s what the Apple stores are there for, no? Besides, it’s become a regular thing that major tech blogs worldwide become bogged down by traffic from the Mac faithful each time Apple takes the stage, WWDC or otherwise.
• Ditching Macworld gives Apple greater flexibility in terms of product development. Coming up with new products on a schedule determined by a trade show far in advance is no mean feat, but it’s also not something that any company can keep up. Ditching that one trade show gives Apple more time to firm up their strategies and bring better products to market. The last thing you want to do is to stifle innovation simply to keep to a schedule you didn’t set to begin with.

Whatever the real story, one can’t help but shed a tear for Macworld. To many, the Steve Show is literally one not to be missed. Each time Steve took the stage, all eyes were on him and him alone. 2009 signals the end of an era, but hopefully for the Mac faithful (and the rest of tech enthusiasts), Apple’s got a solid plan to bring to the company to the next level, with or without Steve.

Macworld 2009’s coming up in a little over a month, and as usual, the Mac faithful are already throwing ideas into the wind on what Apple will announce in one of the most significant tech-related events to start off the year.

While i’m admittedly not the most knowledgeable around on all things Apple, come January 5th, i’ll be neck-deep among the hordes of Mac acolytes thronging through San Francisco.

Before that happens though, here’s my take on what Apple (i.e. Steve Jobs) will most likely talk about:

• Mac Pro – The Mac Pro’s been lying rather quiet, and since Intel’s gone and announced their Core i7 platform, this is a good time as any to finally bring some fresh blood to Apple’s high-end workstations. Nehalem, here they come.
• Mac Mini / iMac- The ‘forgotten child’ of Apple’s product lineup, the Mac Mini hasn’t seen an update since getting fitted with Core 2 Duo chips in 2007. It’s either Apple’s going to officially sink the product line, or announce an update. My gut says update, but with some of the new 65W quad-core chips from Intel. These babies make excellent media centers, and as they bring a more affordable side to owning an Apple-branded computer, cutting these out of the lineup wouldn’t make a lot of sense where product segmentation is concerned. On the other hand, Apple might also stuff these quad-core chips into their iMac lineup.
• 32GB iPhone / 64GB iPod Touch – More storage is always a good idea, and i’m hoping that Apple will ditch the 8GB iPod Touch while introducing a 64GB variant, pushing the 32GB model down the price ladder. Similarly, a 32GB iPhone would be very welcome; 8GB or even 16GB doesn’t really cut it, not when the 32GB iPod Touch’s already been around for quite some time.

What Apple’ll likely NOT announce:

• Snow Leopard @ Mac OS 10.6 - Initially announced during WWDC earlier in June this year, Apple’s latest big update to their operating system was stated as only shipping sometime mid 2009, likely in time for WWDC 2009.
• An Apple Netbook - Pricing themselves out of the market has never been one of Apple’s aims, not even with the ultra-cheap iPod Shuffle (US$49 on the Apple US online store, S$78 in Singapore). With that in mind, it makes no sense that Apple would announce a netbook product, and even less sense that they’d adopt the Intel Atom (if any) to power one.
• Blu-ray on a Mac – Forget it. Despite the death of HD-DVD, Blu-ray isn’t getting anywhere closer to toppling DVD. Apple’s always made it a point to go cutting edge, but at this point in time, Blu-ray is far from cutting edge, and still a little too expensive to appeal to the mainstream.

What do YOU think Steve-o will announce at Macworld?