And Steve Jobs will not be delivering his famed speech at this coming Macworld in January. Say it isn't so, Steve.
Whether you're a fan or not, we've come to look forward every year to Jobs Jobs' keynote address.
But come Macworld in January 2009, where we're hoping to see the likes of Snow Leopard on display, Jobs will not be gracing the stage. In news bound to send dismay into the hearts of the Apple faithful, Apple says the Macworld keynote - usually where Jobs takes the glory - will this time be delivered by Philip Schiller, Apple's senior worldwide marketing vice president (that's the shortened version).
That's not all. Apple says the January 2009 event will be Apple's "last year" at Macworld, an event which began in 1985.
Whether this means anything significant about Apple's planned Macworld product announcement remains to be seen - the rumour mill is filled with everything from Apple netbooks to an iPhone "nano" - but the question remains, will Macworld ever be the same without Jobs?
Jobs' best glory moments will likely be up for discussion now and until Macworld, but the 2007 launch of the iPhone will surely go down as one of the biggest. In 2008, Steve also debuted the incredibly thin Apple Air, updates to the iPhone, and iTunes movie rentals.
To his credit, Jobs has managed to avoid becoming the star of any major demo blunders, such as the infamous blue screen of death when Bill Gates was onstage while Windows 98 was being demoed.
Apple is pitching the news as a sign of the times. Say what you will about Apple stores and their so-happy-it-hurts staff, but there's no doubt they've hit a winner with the concept. Apple says 3.8 million people visit their Apple stores every week, and coupled with its Web site the company says trade shows are now a "minor" part of the game.
Is this a sign of the times? Apple has been scaling back its trade show presence in recent years. Key CES vendors including Philips and Yahoo are reportedly scaling back their presence for the January 8 expo, though the number of exhibitors will reportedly be as many as in 2008. Major gaming event E3 has gone through something of a downsizing, though it's still a major fixture on the gaming calendar, though you'll find plenty of talk online about various vendors coming back bigger than ever in 2009.
Like them or loathe them, these technology stagehows have helped lend something of a human face to the relentless cycle of marketing, and in some notorious cases, even helped create characters - who can forget this? If Apple's withdrawal is a sign of things to come, this truly will be the end of an era.
Also see our story Macworld 2009 rumour mill: Windkintosh?
Also see our story Apple's next OS Snow Leopard is coming