The end of the Stevenote?

This week’s announcement that MacWorld Expo 2009 will be Apple’s last appearance has sparked a lot of speculation about the future of the event and, of course, Steve Jobs’ health.

I’m not one of the people who thinks that Jobs is headed down the tubes, although I know many people find it the most likely explanation.

To me, though, it sounds like Jason Snell nailed it, talking about when Apple decided to ditch MacWorld Boston:

At the same time, Apple was toning its product-announcement muscles in other areas. The keynote address at Apple’s once-sleepy developer conference suddenly became a hot ticket. And Apple began making more and more major announcements at Apple-controlled media events, not only at the Apple campus, but at Moscone West in San Francisco, at the Yerba Buena Theater in San Francisco, and even at the California Theater in San Jose.

Those events were timed by Apple, controlled by Apple, and attended only by Apple’s invited guests—VIPs, members of the media, analysts, and Apple employees. The public couldn’t get in, and there was no intermediary like IDG World Expo to get in the way. But I think most important was the timing—Apple could announce products when it damn well wanted to, rather than being forced to adhere to a trade-show calendar that’s usually set years in advance.