The Mind of Dr. Mac

Well, first off, sorry for no blog entries last week but I was on the run every day from dawn to darkness at Macworld Expo. Now that I’m back home I guarantee that I’ll blog more often.  

Let me start by saying I had the best time I’ve had in a long time at Macworld this year. Things went smoothly everywhere. The lines were reasonable for registration and the keynote; cabs weren’t that hard to find; my hotel (the Warwick) wasn’t bad; and the show was crowded, but not overcrowded.

Over the next week or two I’ll try to cover all the best stuff from my week in San Francisco, starting now with pictures I took on the show floor.

This first one is kind of a rare peek at the show floor the day before the show opened. I happened to have an exhibitor badge and was able to prowl the floor Monday (the show began on Tuesday). Here’s what it looks like before the carpet is laid: 

Next, here’s a picture I took in an aisle of the North hall (the smaller of the two exhibit halls) one morning. As you can see, the place was pretty much packed:

Moving right along, here are a couple of pictures of the Apple booth:

And, last but not least, what trade show would be complete without a Back to the Future DeLorean? This one was in the TechRestore booth way in the back of the South hall:

That’s all for now but if you want to look at a LOT more pictures, visit the Mac Observer and look for the numerous photo galleries from Macworld Expo. In upcoming blog posts I’ll tell you about some cool products I saw at the show as well as the best party of the week (Cirque Du Mac 6, of course).

If you’re going to be at Macworld Expo in San Francisco this week, I’d love for you to come and visit me. Here are some of the places you’ll find me:

Tuesday: 

2:45 PM Microsoft Word For Dummies presentation @ Microsoft Booth (#1112)

Wednesday:

1:00 PM User Group Lounge

2:45 PM Microsoft Word For Dummies presentation @ Microsoft Booth (#1112)

8:00 PM Cirque Du Mac Party (playing guitar with the Macworld All-Star Band)

Thursday:

1:45 PM Microsoft Word For Dummies presentation @ Microsoft Booth (#1112)

On Tuesday Apple announced that the upcoming Macworld Expo (January 5-9 at The Moscone Center in San Francisco) would be the last one it attends… Furthermore, it also revealed that Steve Jobs would not be delivering his trademark keynote address, but would be presented by Phillip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing instead.

Here is the complete text of the press release: 

CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(® today announced  that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip  Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver  the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be  Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on  Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s  Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.   

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many  companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its  customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5  million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly  reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, includingNAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.  

I wrote a column expressing my personal thoughts on it, which  will appear Tuesday in the Houston Chronicle. While I was gathering the information I needed to opine intelligently, I read many other opinions of this news. Here are a few I found quite interesting: 

This is a BusinessWeek column dated December 15 (the day before Apple dropped its bombshell). Consider whether it might have played a part in Apple’s announcement the next day: Steve Jobs Will MAY Be At Macworld Expo, Event Manager Says

Jason Snell, Editorial Director and head honcho at Macworld magazine, had this to say: Apple at Expo: What went wrong?

An insightful column with predictions by Chuck La Tournous (for the Mac Observer): It’s the End of the World as We Know it (and I Feel Fine)

Brad Stone for the New York Times: Apple’s Chief to Skip Macworld, Fueling Speculation

Edward C. Baig and Jon Swartz for USA TODAY: Steve Jobs skips Macworld; Apple denies health rumors

Some opinions from troubleshooting guru and founder of MacFixIt, Ted Landau (for the MacObserver): The End of Macworld Expo

And last but not least, a juicy, tabloid-style tell-all story of Steve Jobs and Macworld Expos in the past written by David Bunnell, founder of Macworld Magazine and Macworld Expo (for SFGate): Steve Jobs didn’t make the first Macworld, either

There is one more thing… Before the ink was dry (or the electrons were settled) on the Apple press release, a site that parodies the press release – AppleCancelledChristmas.com — appeared on the Web. Not my favorite Apple parody but good for a giggle.