Macworld

Macworld was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fluegelman (editor). It began as a print magazine in 1984, with its first issue distributed at the launch of the Macintosh 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.

In 1997, the Ziff-Davis-owned MacUser 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, 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), which took place every January at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

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, 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 games.

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.

Macworld has also published in Indonesia by Megindo Tunggal Sejahtera, between 2008 until December 2011.

The Macworld Podcast is a weekly podcast 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.

• Macworld Australia