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IDG shutters Macworld Magazine, much of the editorial staff let go

9to5-image 2014-09-10 at 2.16.50 PM

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International Data Group (IDG) is shutting down Macworld Magazine, the long time Apple periodical according to tweets by staff and conversations I’ve had with personnel.  Dan Miller, Editor, Macworld tweeted the following:
9to5-image 2014-09-10 at 1.41.26 PM

The Macworld.com website will remain open [although as a shell of its former self -ed] with a reduced staff according to Miller, who himself is leaving in a month.

As a former contributor and fan of Macworld.com it is sad to see the publication go. Ironically, the transition from print to digital hastened by Apple’s own iPad and other online tools made the publication one of the last remaining Apple publications in print.

There’s no word yet on the fate of the annual trade show of the same name that has also taken a hit since Apple stopped attending. We’ll update as we hear more.

Update: Dan Miller wrote in to clarify that he never implied that the magazine “would be a shell of its former self”  (even though most of the names and faces that were the backbone of the magazine have been let go).

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Comments

  1. Tim Jr. - 10 years ago

    ACK! Just watched Jason Snell on MacBreak Weekly.. always loved his editorials. Though, I began to wonder when things like references to Macworld became few and far between on his personal site and he started picking up the pace with his Podcasting..

  2. Sandy - 10 years ago

    I’m so sad to see this! And what happens to subscribers who have paid in advance?

    • Barnes Dave - 10 years ago

      Your subscription will be moved to Androidworld. It is where the action is. Apple is doomed or haven’t you heard?

      • Michael Smith - 10 years ago

        If that’s the case, I demand a refund NOW please😡!

      • samuraiartguy - 10 years ago

        Don’t be a troll, BD.

      • Matt Perkins - 9 years ago

        Android is where the action is? I guess you mean where the malware action is at since Android makes up for 97% of all mobile malware. Or are you referring to all the action in line where people cash their welfare checks to get Android phones because they can’t afford an iPhone? 90% of Android users only have Android because it’s cheapest money can buy. Android users also make a lower average income. But try and convince yourself Android is actually popular. Popular is not what most have, it’s what most want. Most want iPhones but are forced to settle for Android phones.

      • Matt Perkins - 9 years ago

        BTW greenbot is IDG’s Android site, has far less people go there than go to Macworld. Greenbot is ranked #19,294 while Macworld is ranked #2,993. I guess even Android users prefer iOS to Android products. Only difference is iOS users own iOS products, Android users only wish they could afford iOS products.

  3. Mel Gross - 10 years ago

    Sadly, the difference between MacWorld and PCWorld had continued to shrink over the years until the difference between them was less than the similarities. That particularly includes the online edition, which I don’t often go to anymore. Ironically, PCMag has better overall Apple coverage. All the specialized Apple sites also, take some of the need for this publication, online or otherwise, away.

  4. Laughing_Boy48 - 10 years ago

    Wow! I subscribed to that magazine for many years but stopped about six years ago because anything I wanted to read about Apple I could find on the internet. I’m sad to hear it’s being discontinued but I can certainly imagine why. Nothing lasts forever.

  5. D. Barry Coyle - 10 years ago

    I was just logging in to subscribe to the print edition right now. Really. I guess I won’t be getting it in the mail. Crap.

  6. MacLife seems to still be going strong…..

  7. driverbenji - 10 years ago

    oh, dang, that sucks, these were professional journalists, not blogger-wanna-be-writers like much of the mac coverage online. I know macworld.com will still be around, but, the best staff will be gone, the ones that write the best reviews and most helpful articles. :(

  8. This is so sad. I’ve been a subscriber for most of the 30 years that MacWorld has been in business. I’m so sorry the talented journalists have lost their jobs. I hope they find new ones shortly.

    I will need to find out how to get a refund on my print subscription as I’m paid up for years to come.

  9. Terribly, terribly sad.

  10. bogger (@alphashot) - 10 years ago

    I still can’t be it. I’m a longtime subscriber and my subscription is payed until 2015. I always enjoyed reading Macworld. What should be the alternative?

  11. jimgramze - 10 years ago

    This is really sad. I haven’t subscribed for a very long time, like since John Dvorak was the anti-editor on the back page. At least their website will still be there. It’s like hearing an old friend that you lost touch with has died.

  12. Joel Henson - 10 years ago

    I understand why they shut down the magazine, but I don’t understand the people they fired. They let all the best writers go.

  13. initiator92 - 10 years ago

    This is sad news indeed–not shocking–but sad. I will miss MacWorld (incorporating Mac User–remember that?). I’ve been a subscriber for as long as I’ve owned a Mac. Sorry that all these great people lost their jobs as well.

    BTW, I wouldn’t be so sure MacLife will be around much longer also. I noticed something curious a few issues ago. In addition to a major style overhaul (which I’m not thrilled with), they got rid of nearly their entire US-based staff. It’s all a UK affair now. I think only the editor remains. I’m not sure what exactly that means, but I hope they do still stick around. We need one Mac magazine around. I’d be fine if it was digital only, as long as I could still subscribe.

  14. Robert Bittner - 10 years ago

    Not shocked. The content was so watered down and the articles so brief that there was very little value. I get much much more from MacLife and the fantastic MacFormat from the UK, both of which I subscribe to on my iPad.

  15. Truffol (@Truffol) - 10 years ago

    perhaps 9to5mac can hire some of the editors!

  16. bb1111116 - 10 years ago

    I subscribed to Macworld for several years. A piece of Apple/Mac history is gone.

  17. Karl Lalemand - 10 years ago

    While many are subscribers – it’s less then those that were, aren’t or wanted to be, and it IS all about the money.

    This and the number of companies who make aftermarket mac goods / software has dropped off over the years. Hell I long for the time when FreeHand vs Illustrator was a hot topic. So sad the day adobe purchased MacroMedia and dumped FreeHand. Oh, if you are interested, there is a new (just starting) software looking to get back some FreeHand users – Gravit

    And then there was canvas and Corel … both gone bye-bye for the Mac and the list grows on, and on.

    Skip

  18. Brian Ramage (@BJMRamage) - 10 years ago

    too bad. that was the ONE Mac magazine I always wanted to read. Guess I can go back to some digital versions I still have on hand.

  19. There are far more Apple (and Mac) users now than there have been in the history of the company, but apparently IDG can’t figure out how to make money off of them either with a magazine or a trade show.

  20. Dan McCarthy - 10 years ago

    Lets face it, Mac magazines have been largely useless for nearly a decade now. Everything in them was two months out of date by the time they got to news stands and there was more ads than there was content.

  21. Bob Hudson - 10 years ago

    In the old days if you owned a computer you were a geek – or close to it – and technology advanced so fast that it was a challenge and, for many, a pastime in trying to keep up with it.

    Now the supercomputer has become a commodity, something you can carry in your pocket and more people than ever have one in the form of a smartphone, iPad or, still, a desktop. Computers are fast, cheap and easy to use, at least for what the vast majority of people use them for.

    The average person no more needs to read a magazine or How To book to use their computer than they need to read Car and Driver to use their Toyota. They get all the computing news they need when the guy on the TV says, “Apple has released a bigger iPhone.”

  22. mpolda - 9 years ago

    I just wrote to cancel my subscription and request a refund. If they think they can cut the heart out of this publication and their subscribers won’t notice they’ve got another think coming. I encourage everyone to write to subhelp@macworld.com and let them know how you feel.

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Avatar for Seth Weintraub Seth Weintraub

Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek sites.


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