Apple's withdrawal from the Macworld trade show certainly arrived as a bombshell when the announcement was made on Wednesday. But what does it mean for the smaller companies it directly affects?

There have already been dozens of reaction pieces already penned (Sascha Segan and Lance Ulanoff have already provided their takes.) I chatted with a few vendors and analysts this morning, asking them what they thought about Apple's decision, and what it might mean if Apple's senior vice-president of marketing Phil Schiller took a more prominent role at the company.

Ross Rubin, a director of industry analysis at retail analyst NPD, said that Apple's decision doesn't necessarily doom tech trade shows in general, including the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in January.

"Apple pulling out of Macworld Expo is not an indictment of tech trade shows," he said. "Apple is in a unique position in terms of not only having a direct physical channel but what it does within it. With Macworld Expo and [Ziff-Davis'] DigitalLife we have, however, seen events that are open to the public struggle to make their ROI case with technology companies here in the U.S. That said, IFA in Europe is a large technology show that is open to the public, at least for part of the event."

But for MacWorld, Apple's departure may be the kiss of death.

JupiterMedia vice president Michael Gartenberg noted that the Internet gives most companies an easy way to reach companies. "If you're relying on MacWorld to reach your target audience, you have larger problems," he said.

"The only thing propping up MacWorld was Apple. Even Adobe had pulled out this year," Gartenberg said. "Without Apple, there is no reason for that show to exist."

All of the vendor contacts I spoke to this morning, save one, wanted to speak on background, for fear of offending Apple and its sometimes irascible chief executive, Steve Jobs. All expressed concern about Jobs' health, and several wondered whether it was, as one pundit put it, Jobs' politics or his pancreas that caused Apple to pull out. "Let's face it: he's the face of this industry," one Mac software executive said.

It was perhaps an odd comment, given that the executive's next few statements concerned his presence at Macworld, and how his company's products might fare better in terms of attention.

"Be realistic, here: after the Jobs keynote is done, how much time do tech outlets like PC Magazine spend walking the show floor and covering the little guys?" he said. "It's MacBook, MacBook, iPod, maybe some software and we're outa here." Now that Apple has pulled out, it might give his company a bit more of a chance to shine, he said.

That directly contradicted a statement I received from Ten One Design, which designed what the company claims is the first iPhone stylus. "Apple's cachet rules the Macworld show floor," the company said. "As an exhibitor, it makes us feel a part of something larger than ourselves. Exhibiting in 2010 without that brand association would be much less compelling."

Both the software executive I spoke to and another in the Mac peripherals business felt that there would still be some Mac community events if MacWorld folded. (MacWorld, the publication, reported Wednesday that the Apple Paris Expo would also be closed.) "It's not going away," the executive said. "The Mac community is too tightly knit. Maybe we'll have to go back to the days of user groups, but there will always be an opportunity for us to meet, exchange ideas, and sell products."

Apple said Tuesday that senior vice president of marketing Phil Schiller will give the keynote address, a decided second fiddle to Jobs. In shifting the topic to Schiller, I made reference to the "reality distortion field" Jobs sometimes seems to project. "Schiller doesn't have that," the second executive said. "He's..."

"Human?" I asked.

The executive laughed. "I'd say more down to earth."

Jobs, as most geeks know, has a uniform: black turtleneck, black or blue jeans. What I didn't realize is that Schiller appears to have one, too: blue shirt, usually short-sleeved, and blue dress pants or jeans. No logos anywhere. (Compare his outfit in this YouTube video, this one, this third one, plus this last one, where Schiller appears in a long-sleeved shirt.)

Still, as Gartenberg pointed out, Schiller is essentially the number-two man at Apple. According to his official bio, Schiller has spent seventeen years at Apple.

"What we may be seeing is a more expanded visibility for these executives," Gartenberg said. "It's a way of reminding people that there are 20,000 to 25,000 employees at Apple, not just Steve."