After the curtain closes in January, Apple will be pulling out of the annual IDG-own Macworld that’s been a touchstone for the Apple-fancying press and the company’s fans. CEO Steve Jobs is not going to show up this time, leading to speculation about the state of his health. There’s also been speculation he may have nothing to say although there’s been talk about a Mac netbook or that Apple is tired of trying to hit one out of the park every January on IDG’s schedule.

Anyway, Jobs has delegated his famous “one more thing” Stevenote to Philip Schiller, Apple’s marketing guy, who’s said to be in line of succession to Stevie in a runoff with COO Tim Cook. Apple claims to have other ways of its own to get in front of customers – developers may be another matter.