Fan Reactions Mixed At Macworld 2009

Well, Macworld 2009 came and went, and left behind a plethora of mixed reactions among Apple's fans. Everyone expected Apple to make a bang at Macworld, knowing that it was going to be the last time Apple was going to grace the trade show it co-founded. While there was a fair amount of good news going around, it left fans wondering if they were waiting for a punchline somewhere.

First, the good news. Jobs recently issued a letter to the Apple community explaining the condition of his health, particularly the cause of an alarming loss of weight. In the letter, he stressed that it was caused by a hormonal imbalance that can be easily treated, and that he had already started receiving treatment. Even better, he said that he will continue to serve as Apple's CEO while he was being treated for the medical condition.

Then, the fairly good news. While Jobs didn't make the widely-wished-for appearance at Macworld, Apple Vice-President Phil Schiller still managed to give a good keynote to kick off the trade show, all things considered. Schiller expectedly didn't have Jobs' stage presence, and his announcements didn't get the raucous applause that Jobs' announcements usually garnered, but his presentation was content-filled and interesting. Granted, there were some boring segments, but it was for the most part a good keynote.

The keynote didn't announce any of the rumors that have been circulating like wildfire for the past several months. The major announcements were about tweaks to Apple's iLife, iWork, and iTunes product lines, improving productivity and expanding user options. The iLife upgrades were particularly neat. The new iMac would be unveiled later, at the Macworld Expo.

Finally the bad news: No iPhone Nano. (Goes into hissy fit.)

No, I jest. Chris Gomez is way too cool for hissy fits.

Personally I think the Macworld wasn't all bad, despite all the negativity about it circulating the blogosphere while you're reading this article. Most of the said negativity are being perpetuated by some of Apple's most spoiled fans, who only go to Macworld to see the Stevenotes. There were some who claimed it was the “Worst Macworld ever” right after walking out of the keynote – which is an infuriatingly shallow remark, as they haven't even seen the rest of the trade show yet.

Some of the negativity was also thrown onto the table by naïve geeks who were fully expecting an iPhone Nano (or, more incredulously, a new iPod), even “after all the hype and talk it's generated over the past several months.” Seriously, just because rumors have been glorified over the past several months doesn't compel Apple to meet every single expectation. So despite the geeks' whiny tweets all over the 'Net, don't go thinking that it was a failure on Apple's part not to announce any gamebreaking new products.

Besides, if you think about it, Apple has had a tendency to announce new products during the second half of the year. Whiny geeks may only need to wait a little longer for the next spoonfeeding.