Bye-Bye Macworld Expo? Maybe not.
As the above graphic implies, the recently concluded Macworld Expo will be the last of its kind. I must admit, after spending five days in San Francisco soaking up all the Apple goodness I did sense a funereal vibe in the air. From Phil Schiller’s pronouncement about the “last Macworld” during his keynote to the last question fielded by Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun at their live Mac Geek Gab podcast on Thursday, an ending era was foremost on many people’s minds.
Since this was my first Macworld, it’s impossible [for me] to compare it to any other, but no Steve Jobs, no Adobe or Belkin and Apple’s announcement of non-participation in the 2010 show was a buzz-stifling trifecta of bad news. While everyone tried to put on their best face, their actions and words betrayed them. In short, it was a bit depressing.
When I registered for the event last November, I was excited to the point of being giddy. I had listend to so may live podcasts from the floor of the expo, read live blogs from past keynotes and observed all the fun and excitement of countless news reports from past shows that I was literally jumping to be a part of it. Even though the old adage, “90% of joy is anticipation” is a truism, the overall sense of malase I witnessed in San Francisco pushed that percentage up a few points for me.
If history truly is the best predictor of the future, the 2010 Macworld Expo will probably be the last. When Apple stopped participating in the Boston Macworld, there was only one more show in Beantown. Apple leaving the San Francisco show may sound a similar death-knell. Why one more Expo? Because IDG (the company that puts on the Expo) has already doled out the cash for the Moscone facility in 2010. It seems they are wasting no time organizing next year’s show. Before I got off the plane home, there was an e-mail from IDG in my inbox offering free registration for the 2010 event!
Phil Schiller made the point that 100 Macworlds happen every week in Apple stores. If body count were the only consideration that may be true, but Macworld Expo is so much more than that for the attendees I met and observed. These people are more than just Apple users, they are enthusiests in every sense of the word. Even the professionals that utilize Apple hardware and OS X for their livlihood display a real love for the platform. Macworld gives everyone a chance to congregate as a community and, for one week, be more than just Apple customers. If the Expo is to survive, that is the energy that will sustain it.
It will be interesting to see what tack IDG takes with next year’s Expo. Will they tailor a show to truly accommodate the Apple faithful or will they offer up a feint-hearted effort to just “break even”? With no Apple presence, one would think that there are opportunities to present things that Cupertino would normally frown upon but us Macheads really love. For instance, they could sponsor iPhone jailbreaking labs or courses on installing OS X on a Dell Mini 9. Hell, they could even sell Psystar a booth to promote their $1200 Mac Pro clone. Could you imagine the iPhone dev-team conducting seminars or the Hackintosh.com folks distributing OS X DVDs in swag bags? When the cat’s away…
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