MacInTouch is an Apple website and discussion group that has been around for a long, long time. Ric Ford is the editor and publisher of the site, and on Monday he published a note that mirrors the current situation here at Apple World Today:
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“Thirty years is a long time. The Macintosh computer debuted more than three decades ago, and I’ve been involved with this revolutionary system and the community around it since 1984. A lot has changed in the meantime.The Internet and Web took off twenty years ago, which led to unprecedented changes in social networking, personal profiling and business. We lost Steve Jobs, as Apple Inc. transformed into one of the world’s wealthiest companies. Artificial intelligence is now changing our lives in unpredictable ways with more extreme changes to come.
I’ve been constantly engaged, inspired and supported by the MacInTouch community for all these many years, but I think it’s time to do something different.
The revenue that used to sustain MacInTouch has dropped below a viable business minimum, while a plethora of other websites, operating under different business and security models, produces constant Apple news, reviews and commentary.
The MacInTouch Discussions forum is unique, as far as I know, but it’s also unsustainably labor-intensive, and there’s no way around that in its current incarnation.
At this point, my plan is to continue running MacInTouch Discussions and home/news pages at a reduced intensity for a little longer. But, before long, it will be time for a change – a sabbatical, a new blog, research, development, or something else – I’m not quite sure what yet, but I expect macintouch.com to continue in some form.
What I am sure of is that I’m enormously grateful for the support, contributions and engagement of this remarkable community over the past three decades, something words can’t adequately express. Thank you for all that, for all you’ve contributed, and let’s see where the journey goes from here.
Ric Ford
Editor/Publisher
MacInTouch Inc. ”
We’re in a similar, although not as dire, situation. Some months — March being one of them — I really wonder if expending the time and effort in Apple World Today is really worth it. We had a really bad month financially, and if it wasn’t for other side gigs, Dennis and I wouldn’t be able to continue to afford to run this site.
I know I’ve been hounding on this for two years now, but if you can afford it, please be a subscriber to Apple World Today as part of Team AWT. Our advertising and affiliate revenues barely keep us going, so we depend on Team AWT to keep us afloat. $5 a month is all we’re asking, and if enough of you subscribe we can keep this site going. Your subscription gives you access to our new Team AWT Community Forum as well.
Let this be a reminder; those of us working for smaller Apple websites need your support. Please don’t let Apple World Today go the way of MacInTouch.
