System Folder’s Riccardo Mori:
I wasn’t an eWorld subscriber, yet I remember the phenomenon fondly. I believe it was another Apple creation with potential, but the high costs of the service (and perhaps Apple’s lack of belief, too) prevented it from really taking off. Too bad it was just discontinued without morphing it into something that could survive on the Web, Apple could have taken advantage of the faithful eWorlders’ sense of community to expand it online and pioneering today’s social networks, for instance. But I guess it was not the right timeframe for Apple, not in its best of shapes financially.
Wikipedia has more on what led to it’s demise:
Apple’s marketing and promotion efforts were at best indifferent. The service was only available on the Macintosh, along with e-mail only support on the Newton handheld. Apple was in a challenging financial position at the time and CEO Michael Spindler told the Online Services Group that significant marketing for the service could not be provided so eWorld shipped on new Macs with only an icon on the desktop and a brochure in the box. There was also little if anything in the way of media marketing for the service. The promised Windows version of eWorld was not launched following a decision by Apple’s senior management to position eWorld as a unique service for Macintosh owners.
Apple’s management decided that the product was doomed to fail in a market where AOL had such a commanding lead. The company was also cutting costs. In June 1995, the company had over $1 billion in backorders and posted a $68 million loss in the fourth quarter of 1995. In January 1996, Spindler was asked to resign as CEO, replaced by former CEO of National Semiconductor Gil Amelio. Several products and projects were scrapped in an effort to put the company back into the black.
On March 31, 1996, at 12:01 am Pacific Time, the service was officially shut down. Remaining eWorld subscribers were offered incentives to switch to AOL, which began hosting Macintosh-oriented content developed with Apple. The eWorld/AppleLink technical support archives moved to Apple’s website. When the Online Services Group was disbanded, many of its members left Apple. Peter Friedman eventually formed TalkCity with Chris Christensen and Jenna Woodul. Scott Converse became a senior executive at Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment Division. James Issacs joined Danger Inc. (acquired by Microsoft in 2008). Richard Gingras and Jonathan Rosenberg joined the newly formed broadband access venture @Home Network.
Like so much at Apple in the mid-to-late 90s, eWorld was way ahead of its time.