Did Adobe, Belkin, Seagate, and Google know about the Jobs-less Macworld?

While the economy is of course a concern for many companies (especially Adobe who are handing out pink slips), we have to wonder if these four companies might have had prior knowledge about Steve Jobs’ absence from Macworld before the general public knew.  Google, who significantly downsized their booth just a week before Apple’s announcement, shares Eric Schmidt, their CEO with Apple’s Board of Directors.  Adobe, whose relationship with Apple has been pretty tumultuous lately, also has many Apple insiders who could have been privy to the situation.  They pulled out just over a week before the announcement.

Seagate and Belkin are both much smaller players in the Apple landscape but industry sources could have been floating these rumors for quite awhile.  They have  both have bailed on the event in recent days  A non-Jobs Macworld certainly isn’t the same bang/buck as one with Jobs pulling technology products out of his magic hat. 

We can only wonder…