Reliable sources are reporting that Apple has had plans to withdraw from Macworld for a very long time. In fact, those schemes included scaling back on many trade shows, one by one, just like the official Apple report said.

Gizmodo reveals that Apple almost quit Macworld in 2002. For one reason or another, it didn't, but around two years ago (the source says) a “friend from Apple” made a rather shocking statement to the author, saying that “We are going to phase out all trade shows.”

The Apple staffer is quoted as having said that two years ago. Pressed to answer whether Macworld was on that list, he (allegedly) said, “Yes, MacWorld will go too. I don’t know when, but it will.”

Apple, as many of you should know, has issued a press release last week saying its last stop at Macworld is next year. According to the report, the company has achieved its goal in reaching customers, mostly thanks to the increasing popularity of its retail stores. These attract more than 3.5 million visitors every week, “So, like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers,” the report reads.

Also playing a role in Apple's increasing popularity is the official Apple.com website, the company says, which enables the Cupertino-based Mac maker to reach more than a hundred million customers around the world. Yet, the most valuable piece of information revealed in the report is (by far) that “Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo, and Apple Expo in Paris,” as the company itself admitted in the piece of news.

Apple's CEO was also expected to miss next year's keynote presentation, before Apple's confirmation that Phil Schiller will be taking the stage at that time. According to Jim Goldman of CNBC, Steve Jobs is not ill, contrary to what is being speculated.