MacWorld Expo SF 2010
Thoughts on the show… and its future…
MWSF 2010’s iPad presentation starts up. The person left holding that big green beachball was the person who won an iPad.
MWSF 2010 is now over, the first MacWorld Expo without Apple’s participation. In short: the Expo was jam-packed with visitors, and the vendors I spoke with were very happy with the crowds. So everyone was happy? No so fast…
On both Thursday and Friday, you pretty much needed your own shoehorn and can of axle grease if you wanted to wedge your way through the teeming masses. Saturday was lighter; you could leave the axle grease behind, though some aisles were still well-nigh impassable and the shoehorn still came in handy.
But one reason the show was so jam-packed was that all the visitors who in prior years would be spread across both North and South halls at Moscone Center were squeezed into a small section of a single hall. I don’t have exact figures—heck, I don’t have any figures at all—but it seemed like about two-thirds of the vendors from prior years followed Apple’s lead and stayed away. I was easily able to walk the show in two hours (remember, I had the shoehorn and the axle grease).
A colleague waited for a while by the entrance and noticed quite a few of the visitors asking the guards where the Apple booth was, and remarking on how few vendors were present.
Now, I understand Apple staying away; Apple holds their own extravaganzas these days. Besides, there’s an Apple “booth” a couple of blocks away, in the form of the San Francisco Apple Store (unfortunately, MWSF didn’t point this out in their literature; the show guide and maps didn’t mention Apple at all or depict the location of their stores. Big oops. Those folks looking for Apple went away unhappy).
But the other absent vendors? Yes, times are tight; yes, I’m sure IDG charges vendors a ruinous amount for a booth (this is a common refrain at trade shows); yes, there’s “show fatigue”. But it’s not like MacWorld Expo is just one show among many; it’s the only Mac-centric show around, and the only trade show where you can draw this particular crowd.
I wanted to see that new Canon EOS DSLR as well as the new AVCHD camcorders; I’m in the market for some new gear. MWSF has always been the place where I could see all the Canon kit gathered together. But Canon wasn’t there. Too bad. And Nikon: I wanted to compare the D300s and D3s to my current D300, and Nikon has some interesting, just-announced lenses, too. Nikon didn’t show at MWSF this year. Phooey.
My wife went to the show looking for large-format photo-quality printers, expecting to talk to HP, Canon, and Epson. Only HP showed up this year. Guess what: HP is probably going to make that sale.
But that’s not to say that it was a wasted trip: we found a way cool stereo mike for the iPod Touch, among other things. And we weren’t the only ones; I saw quite a few people staggering past encumbered by shopping bags full of booth booty.
The press of people desperate for things to see made those vendors I spoke to quite happy. Many ran out of flyers and business cards on the first day, and had to arrange for replacements. Folks I chatted with were impressed by the quality and quantity of attendees and said that they were glad to be showing at MWSF.
What will happen in 2011? Will the vendors who gave this year a miss come back next year, seeing as how the crowds showed up looking for them? Will the attendees disappointed by this year’s smaller show stay away next year? Both? Neither?
Other Observations…
“Pan with his iPod” and “Atlas with his iPod”, by Adam Reeder
• Yes, iPod and iPhone stuff occupied about half the booth space. The sculptures in the common areas did kinda reinforce the “iPodWorld Expo” theme, grin.
• Apple may not have had a booth, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there: I think I saw more admission badges listing “Apple” as the attendee’s company than I would normally see at a show where Apple was officially present.
Most of the Apple folks I saw were just walking around, looking over shoulders, quietly observing.
The Mothership has eyes everywhere…
• I saw John Moltz in the flesh; he’s a real person, not just the insane creation of an even crazier entity… but no sign of the Evil Goat. [Caution: link leads to rude language and often politically-incorrect content. You have been warned.]
• I attended the iPad presentation on Saturday.
Jason Snell, Ryan Block, Ted Landau, Dan Moren, and Andy Ihnatko discuss the iPad.
Five Mac/tech gurus talked about the iPad; four of them had been at the unveiling and had actually used an iPad. No iPads were present at the preso; everyone had foamcore mockups.
A couple of the more interesting threads of discussion:
- Andy Ihnatko said that after using the iPad for a couple of minutes, it just faded away and left him with his content—which is exactly what you want a tool to do.
- Comic-book publishers are very interested in the iPad as a distribution platform. The screen is big enough and detailed enough to make electronic comics viable.
- The iBook Store will be huge, but there’s no sign so far of something similar for magazines and periodicals. There needs to be; while the New York Times can put out their own Reader app, not everyone has the resources to do so.
- Some have criticized the iPad’s 4x3 aspect ratio as being too old-school for viewing widescreen movies. The panel agreed, though, that the 4x3 form factor made for much better ergonomics overall; it was a better package for reading, web-surfing, etc. 16x9 would be too skinny for things other than movie-watching.
• If you want your own iPad mockup, you can get one here.
16 CFR Part 255 Disclosure
I attended MacWorld Expo as an Expo-only attendee with a free pass, just like most of the folks there.
Last August, I posted a shameless plug for the show on ProVideoCoalition.com, and enough people signed up with the priority code I posted that I won a free night’s stay at the Marriott San Francisco Hotel (I did stay one night at the hotel; it was very pleasant). Had I not won the free night, I still would have attended the show; I live about 45 minutes south of San Francisco and I normally drive in or take the train.
I also received priority seating at the iPad preso (basically the ability to jump the queue; I wound up in the middle of the room, behind the image-mag video camera) because I was a “January Reward Program winner”, presumably due to people continuing to use the same priority code I had posted in August. Had I not received the priority seating, I would still have attended; I would just have planned to arrive rather a bit earlier, grin.
The chances to obtain these benefits were offered to all pre-registered attendees, as far as I can tell.
I did not register as press, and the show’s management did not offer me any payment or other compensation to encourage favorable coverage.
Filed under: Hardware •MacWorld •Software •
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MacWorld Expo SF 2010
Thoughts on the show… and its future…
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