Actually, the more I think about it, the more responsible of a move it is on Jobs' part. He's "dropping out" as the public face of the company in gentle stages instead of all at once, which would be a hell of a shock to the system.
First, he does a keynote in which he turns the stage over to others for over half the time.
Then, he doesn't do the keynote at all, but has someone else do it (perhaps with himself being called up as a "special appearance" or whatever).
Then, they drop the MW keynote altogether (by dropping MW), because, no offense to Phil Schiller, but let's face it, Jobs is the only one with enough star power to make the global media pay attention; if everyone knows he's not gonna be onstage anymore, there goes the free media exposure/advertising.
*THIS* year's MW/keynote *will* get a lot of attention even though Jobs isn't giving it, *because* it's the last one, and because I'm certain that everyone will be looking for a "surprise" Jobs appearance to be the "one more thing..." at the end. After that, however, the free media ride is over, so why bother with the expense and fuss?
Besides, Apple has the clout to call a one-week-notice broadcast press conference any time they want if they have a new product/service to announce.
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