It looks like 2009 will be Apple’s last appearance at the MacWorld Expo trade show.

For those not familiar with the MacWorld shows, they are not run by Apple. The shows are actually put on by the publisher of the MacWorld magazine.

Steve Jobs has always been a my way or the highway kind of guy, so I can see why the company has chosen to leave the show after the January 2009 event. Trade shows and magazines have become marginalized in the last few years. If you have been to a trade show or a user conference in the past, you understand the great educational and networking opportunities that can be had from such events.

As you might expect, the Mac magazine has a few articles posted on their website on the topic. I’ll save you the time, the three articles are:

• Apple at Expo: What When Wrong?
• Apple announces its last year at Macworld Expo, no Jobs keynote
• MacWorld Expo Responds to Apple’s Exit

You can read the full Apple press release on the Apple website.

Palm and Apple have both recently announced changes to their senior management line-up.

Changes at Palm

Last week PalmInfoCenter was reporting that Palm’s SVP of Global Markets, John Hartnett was leaving Palm. This week, Palm’s website shows that Jeff Devine has filled the vacancy as Palm’s new SVP of Global Operations. (Note the subtle title change.)

According to the Palm website:

“Jeff Devine is responsible for creating and sustaining a competitive advantage for Palm by developing a global supply-chain model that delivers best-in-class performance in areas such as product introduction, quality, total cost, and delivery.

Jeff joined Palm from Nokia, where he served as vice president of Global Customer Logistics, responsible for a diverse global team located in more than 45 countries. He spent 13 years at Nokia in a wide range of roles, including four years heading operations and logistics for the Americas, and a prior role leading Nokia’s Sales and Marketing for AT&T Wireless. Earlier in his career, Jeff helped start up a new Boeing Electronics facility focused on high-performance teams, and was a production manager at Texas Instruments. “

Changes at Apple

Reuters is reporting this morning that Apple’s SVP of the iPod division, Tony Fadell, is ‘leaving the company citing personal reasons but may remain as a consultant.”

According to the Apple website:

“Fadell joined Apple as the first member of its iPod hardware engineering team in 2001 and was promoted to vice president of iPod engineering in 2004. He became senior vice president of the iPod Division in April 2006.

Prior to joining Apple, Fadell was a cofounder, CTO, and director of engineering of the Mobile Computing Group at Philips Electronics where he was responsible for all aspects of business and product development for a variety of products. Tony later became VP of business development for Philips U.S. Strategy & Ventures focused on building the company’s digital media strategy & investment portfolio. Prior to joining Philips, Fadell was a hardware and software architect at General Magic.”

At this time, no announcement has been made as to who might replace Mr. Fadell at Apple.

I just saw this over at GadgetsOnTheGo.net with a link over to MediaBistro:

“According to Jean-Louis Gasse it almost happened in 1997.

In the Summer of 1997, Steve Jobs called Eric Benhamou, 3Com’s CEO (the company owned Palm). Give me the Palm and come and join my Board of Directors. Only Apple can make Palm a true consumer brand. Nothing happened. Apple’s foray into the product segment had to wait ten more years.

Now that would have been interesting. Palm devices from the 90s with an Apple twist. Of course with Jon Rubenstein now running the show at Palm, we might find out just what things might have looked like if Apple did acquire Palm.”

Wow, I don’t know what to make of that. I don’t know if I’d say that Palm became a consumer brand, but it did become a household term. Palm, or the “Palm Pilot” became the “Scotch tape” and “Kleenex” of PDAs and later smartphones. At any rate, this is all water under the bridge.

I was reading the December 2008 MacWorld Magazine and I was shocked to discover that a group of devoted owners of the long since canceled Apple Newton Message Pad will be holding a user’s conference in 2009.

“Worldwide Newton Conference 2009! Since the Newton is still going strong, as is the NTLK list, and since there are some interesting developments still underway for the Newton platform, a WWNC for 2009 is in order. It will be a 3 day event, and will be held from Friday, 31 July, 2009 – Sunday, 2 August, 2009 in downtown Vancouver, BC, Canada. The Sunday following the event, from 9 am – afternoon, is reserved for open discussion in relation to the topics previously discussed. The location is close to an Apple Store. The event is sponsored by European Fritz, purveyors of Poutine.

What will be covered during the event? After some discussion with NTLK list members, and since time continues to press on, this event will revolve around a “moving forward” theme: how to keep the Newton active and relevant as time continues to press forward.”

OK, I like the Newton as much as the next guy, heck, I even own a Message Pad 2000, but a worldwide user’s conference? If you’re a Newton user who is willing to part with the coin to travel up to Vancouver, BC, Canada this coming July, check out the link below for more details.

WWNC 2009 Home…