Jobs, Apple, bow out of Macworld

There will be no more Steve Jobs keynotes at Macworld Expo. Ever.

In fact, Apple is out of the Macworld Expo keynote business, it said. Phil Schiller’s keynote will be the last Apple keynote at the show, which kicks off January 5 in San Francisco.  Schiller is Apple’s executive vice president of marketing.

The company said that trade shows are diminishing in importance and cited its glitzy Apple stores as a great way to showcase its wares.  For the snarky, conspiracy theory take (not that there’s anything wrong with that), check out Valleywag’s report.

The news comes just after a couple analysts revised downward their estimates on Apple earnings,   citing weaker sales. And market analsyts say Apple retail sales are now under pressure as PC rivals HP and Dell cut prices.