Macworld Expo Calls It Quits, One Month After Magazine Ceases, Reports Suggest

It’s a sad day for Mac fans, that is Apple Macintosh fans. The famed Macworld Expo that saw the very first Macintosh introduced, MacBook Air and the iPhone has officially gone on an indefinite hiatus. For many, this was a long time in coming, after Apple Inc. pulled out in 2009, and formed their own product announcement events.

The Inquisitr reported on the demise of Macworld’s print edition. Macworld’s print edition was the oldest Mac related magazine in the world. The website is still running, despite the lack of a print edition.

According to The Verge, the group that runs the Macworld Expo and Macworld Magazine IDG has said it is not the death of the event, but merely a break. Paul Kent of IDG’s World Expo explained the current status of Macworld’s famous event.

“We are announcing today that Macworld/iWorld is going on hiatus, and will not be taking place as planned in 2015. Our MacIT event, the world’s premiere event for deploying Apple in the enterprise, will continue next year with details to be announced in the coming weeks.”

Former Editor-in-Chief of Macworld Jason Snell tweeted “Macworld Expo is over,” according to Business Insider. He went on to express his doubts in saying that if it did come back “the Macworld Expo as we knew it won’t come back.” Tech writer Ed Bott tweeted “Hiatus for a tradeshow is usually a first very large step on the road to cancellation.”

According to Appleinsider, though IDG has put the Macworld Expo out to pasture, its MacIT event will continue on. The details regarding this move are said to be forthcoming in the next few weeks. Unlike Macworld Expo, MacIT is an Apple products event geared towards business, whereas Macworld was consumer based.

Besides the first Macintosh and MacBook Air, the Macworld expo has been home to several other first time Apple product announcements. In 2000, Mac OS X debuted, followed by iTunes in 2001, and Safari in 2003. Then iPod Mini in 2004. According to The Verge, it also played host to an unlikely event in Apple history.

“The announcement that Microsoft was effectively bailing it out from the brink of bankruptcy with a $150 million partnership deal in 1997.”

The fate of the Macworld Expo is still unknown to everyone except Macworld, but certainly with Apple moving out in 2009, it seemed likely that a change or ceasing of the event was inevitable at some point. Though, Maclife and Macformat can continue in print in Macworld’s absence, it is uncertain who will fill the void for Macworld’s Expo.

Perhaps, with Apple running its own events, no other event will be needed.

What are your thoughts? Will you miss the Macworld Expo? Do you have any memories of attendance?

Leave your comments below.

[ Image Via Wikimedia Commons]