Apple abandons Macworld show

Apple has announced that the 2009 Macworld Expo, to be held from 5 to 9 January, will be the last that it attends. The company has also revealed that CEO Steve Jobs won't deliver his traditional keynote address.

The Expo is an important date in the calendar for Apple fans. It was at the 2004 event, for example, that GarageBand was unveiled.

However, it seems that Apple no longer sees attendance at trade shows as vital to its business and that, in the future, the company will focus on launch events of its own.

Company spokesman Steve Dowling told BBC News: "Apple is steadily scaling back on trade shows and in recent years is reaching more people in more ways than ever before.

"Every week 3.5 million people visit our retail stores. And like many companies, trade shows are a minor part of how Apple reaches its customers."

The news that Steve Jobs won't be speaking at the January event has raised fresh concerns for his health (he successfully fought pancreatic cancer four years ago). Steve Dowling wouldn't comment on the issue when asked about it by BBC News.

Phillip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, will present the keynote instead.