MACWORLD has always been a journalist’s haven. Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, never fails to give a spellbinding performance every year as he gives an update on how key Apple products performed and his famous "one more thing" in which he announces the sexy new gizmos that tingles the entire industry.
In the last seven years that I’ve attended Macworld in San Francisco, I’ve always been mesmerised by Jobs’ showmanship. Heck, it's another keynote at a trade event but no one in the tech industry delivers a speech with the panache of a Steve Jobs.
In his trademark black turtleneck shirt, Apple groupies would sit enthralled as he talked for about 90 minutes on all things Mac, iPod and iPhone. And of course, the jibes against Microsoft and Windows.
A gaunt looking Steve Jobs at Apple's Worldwide Developer's conference in June 2008 at Moscone Centre, San Francisco. Source: Grace Chng
I’ll miss Jobs. Dare we say it: Is he dying?
In 2004, he suffered from prostate cancer and much later he had surgery. But he appeared in the next two Macworlds looking well. However, at this year's event, he was at his best but boy, did he look thin. At Apple's Worldwide Developer’s conference in June this year in San Francisco when he unveiled the iPhone 3G, his gaunt look and bones-sticking-out of his black turtleneck shocked me and my Lianhe Zaobao colleague, Ng King Kang.
Is he sick, we wondered? Repeated questions posed to Apple spokesmen from Asia brought us no answers. Their responses were barely believable: He was well. He just had an infection and was recovering, hence his weight loss. He's a vegan, hence his thin looks.
After the event, the whisperings about his health emerged. Even a rumour that he had died circulated on the Web. And talk about succession planning at Apple began. Just three weeks ago, Fortune ran a cover story on who would succeed Apple if Steve Jobs exited the scene. To date, Apple has refused to come clean on Jobs' health.
Does his absence portend of new things? Is Apple preparing for an era without Jobs? It certainly looks like it’s managing Jobs’ exit and grooming a new executive team who will be responsible for future new product announcements.
The ever secretive Apple will not say. Any news Apple doesn’t want made public stays secret. Only a coterie of the Jobs’ closest executives know what’s on his mind. Absolutely no one knows anything. Certainly none of my friends in Apple Singapore is any wiser.
What is known is that Jobs, a vegan for decades, does not travel out of the US very much. News reports have him visiting China but then which CEO hasn’t done this? He has spoken at a few Tokyo Macworlds where he and the Apple brand have a strong following.
The only time Jobs came to Singapore was not when he was with Apple Computer as it was called then but when he was the CEO of NeXT. He had founded NeXT a computing firm in 1985 after he was forced out of Apple by John Sculley, the CEO he had brought in to steer Apple.
His forward team came to recce Singapore to check out the suitability of the sites. They also checked if there were vegan food available for Jobs is not a meat eater. He came in May 1990 and enthralled the by-invitation only crowd who attended the public talk at the World Trade Centre, which has since been demolished for the the new Harbour Front office tower.
Canon Japan who had about 16 per cent stake in NeXT, organised the visit and boy, was it difficult for them. Jobs was picky. First there must be vegetarian food, then the hall must be filled. At no time must there be an empty seat. So Canon had their executives waiting along the aisles. When someone got up for a toilet break, a Canon guy would fill his seat!
But whether at the WTC here, Moscone convention centre in San Francisco or at the Jacob K Javits convention centre in New York, Jobs is very much revered. Appel groupies travel from far and near to hear him speak and even take pictures with him if they could!
Journalists love Jobs. His stories were made headlines. The Stevenote - as his keynotes were known - would start at 9am. It would be a really early day for journalists. We queued from 6.30am so that we can get a good seat. Every 15 minutes, the queue moved a few steps forward.
Journalists would queue as early as 6.30am for a good seat to watch Jobs speak. Source: Grace Chng
At 8.40am, the doors to the halls would open and at 8.50am the stampede begins. Journalists brush aside each other to rush to a seat with a good view - which is usually some 20-30 rows away from the stage.
Reserved seats are only for senior Apple executives, business partners and selected journalists like David Pogue of the New York Times and Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. The rest of us mortals only see life size figure of Jobs on the jumbotron screens.
Stevenote would begin sharp at 9am, ending round about 10.30am. Stories from the wires would start to appear from 11am and Jobs' face would be on every TV news channel that night and the next. His face would hog almost every newspaper around the world for the next couple of days.
It's exciting for journalists to cover Jobs. He makes interesting copy. But I'm certain that there'll be stories arising from Apple. His absence will certainly continue to fuel more speculation on Apple's future. Significantly, Apple will have to hold its own event to announce new products. I look forward to these events.
But the pilgrimage I make every year to Macworld in San Francisco will end come Jan 6 for it will be the last time Apple gives the keynote presentation at this annual conference and expo of all things Mac. It has been one great ride.