The news of the absence of our favorite, black turtleneck wearing CEO at this year’s MacWorld event is certainly well known by now. However, it is not known why he or Apple has decided to make this decision, especially with only about three weeks left until this year’s event. It certainly came as a shock to most Apple fans out there. When you take the time to sit down and think about it, there are a few reasons why this could be so…

It seems as if there has been a lot of news lately about Apple. Usually, this is a good thing. However, recently it seems as if most of this news is negative in one way or another. With health concerns, keynote absences, and cancellations, this can’t be good for Apple’s PR, especially during the holiday season. Although some of these items are bigger news than others, they are all important to the company.

Today Apple surprised everyone with the announcement that this year’s Macworld will be their last. Apple has been scaling things back for some time now, but the real shocker is that Apple’s last opening keynote at Macworld will be Jobs-less.

Jobs has been dropping hints of a Steve-free future in past keynotes by bringing other speakers in on the fun. I just didn’t think the transition was complete, and maybe it’s not. Maybe Apple is testing reception of a non-Jobs keynote. Obviously we don’t wish this to be the case, but maybe it’s Jobs’ health that’s the real reason for his absence. In any event, I think I speak for the entire Apple community when I say…Steve, you will be missed.

Even though Steve isn’t scheduled for the keynote, I don’t think he’ll be completely absent. He might be there watching, he may stand up to talk for a few minutes. Even if he’s not there, he’s who everyone will be talking about…unless Phil kills it.

So the pressure is on Schiller’s shoulders…