''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

, published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG.

History

''Macworld'' was founded by

David Bunnell David Hugh Bunnell (July 25, 1947 – October 18, 2016) was a pioneer of the personal computing industry who founded some of the most successful computer magazines including ''PC Magazine'', ''PC World'', and ''Macworld''. In 1975, he was wo ...

and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and

Andrew Fluegelman Andrew Cardozo Fluegelman (November 27, 1943 – July 6, 1985) was a publisher, photographer, programmer and attorney best known as a pioneer of what is now known as the shareware business model for software marketing. He was also the founding ...

(editor). It began as a print magazine in 1984, with its first issue distributed at the launch of the

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

computer. As a print magazine, it had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macintosh-focused magazines in North America, more than double its nearest competitor, ''

MacLife ''MacLife'' (stylized as ''Mac, Life'') is an American monthly magazine published by Future US. It focuses on products produced by Apple, including the Macintosh personal computer, iPad, and iPhone. It was sold as a print product on newsstands, b ...

''. In 1997, the

Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. Founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology- and health-oriented media websites, online shopping-related servic ...

-owned ''

MacUser ''MacUser'' was a monthly (formerly biweekly) computer magazine published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. and licensed by Felden in the UK. It ceased publication in 2015. In 1985 Felix Dennis’ Dennis Publishing, the creators of MacUser in the UK, l ...

'' magazine was consolidated into ''Macworld'' within the new Mac Publishing joint venture between IDG and Ziff-Davis. In 1999, the combined company also purchased the online publication

MacCentral Online MacCentral was a web site that provided news and information covering the Apple Macintosh, originally as an independent entity and later as the news service for Mac Publishing Web sites, including Macworld.com and Playlist, before being subsumed ...

, because ''Macworld'' did not have a powerful online news component at the time. In late 2001 IDG bought out Ziff-Davis' share of Mac Publishing, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of IDG. In 2003, ''Macworld'' began publishing as a digital version in addition to the print edition. On September 10, 2014, IDG announced it was discontinuing the print edition and laid off most of the staff, while continuing the digital version. At one time, the magazine's publisher licensed its name to another IDG subsidiary, IDG World Expo, for the Macworld Conference & Expo (later

Macworld/iWorld Macworld/iWorld (originally Macworld) was an information technology trade show with conference tracks dedicated to Apple Inc., Apple's Mac (computer), Mac platform. It was held annually in the United States during January. Originally ''Macworld Exp ...

), which took place every January at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. In March 2025, IDG sold its Foundry media business, including Macworld, to Regent.

Game Hall of Fame

''Macworld'' published an annual Game Hall of Fame feature from 1986 until 2009. The Game Hall of Fame recognized the best Macintosh games of the year in various categories. The Hall of Fame was founded in 1986 by

Steven Levy Steven Levy (born 1951) is an American journalist and editor at large for '' Wired'' who has written extensively for publications on computers, technology, cryptography, the internet, cybersecurity, and privacy. He is the author of the 1984 boo ...

, who wrote or co-wrote the feature until 1998. Peter Cohen wrote the feature from 2001 until its conclusion in 2009. From 1998, the Game Hall of Fame began regularly inducting gaming accessories and hardware, and for its final two installments in 2008 and 2009, it further expanded its scope to include the best

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

games.

International editions

The magazine was published in many countries, either by other IDG subsidiaries or by outside publishers who have licensed the brand name and its content. These editions included Australia, Germany (1990–2015 ''Macwelt''), Italy, Spain, Sweden (''MacWorld''), Turkey, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Indonesia. Its content was also incorporated into a number of other IDG publications. In France, IDG bought ''Golden'' magazine, released in 1991, renamed it into ''Macworld France'' in 1996. Two years later, it has been merged with ''Univers Mac'' and renamed ''Univers Macworld''. Publication ended probably in 2004.https://www.generation-nt.com/reponses/univers-macworld-entraide-204870.html?page=1 generation-nt.com ''Macworld'' has also published in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

by Megindo Tunggal Sejahtera, between 2008 until December 2011.

Podcast

The Macworld Podcast is a weekly

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

published by ''Macworld''. The Macworld Podcast began life on April 26, 2005 as the "Geek Factor Podcast," hosted by Cyrus Farivar, but was upgraded into the official "Macworld Podcast" with its fifth installment in August 2005. It was hosted at various times by Chris Breen, Philip Michaels, Serenity Caldwell, Glenn Fleishman, and Susie Ochs. Following a hiatus in 2017, today the Macworld Podcast is manned by Michael Simon, Roman Loyola and Jason Cross.

References

External links

''Macworld''
– official website
Archived Macworld magazines
on the