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back to article Vendors applaud fanboi-lite Macworld

The first Macworld Expo without Apple at its core wrapped up over the weekend in San Francisco. And despite the, shall we say, "more intimate" nature of the event, vendors with whom The Reg spoke were uniformly positive. Attendance was down - way down, to around 20,000 compared to previous years' 50K. And joining Apple in …

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  1. Semihere
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    Not really a new phenomena

    It's not the first time that Apple haven't appeared at MacWorld. Back in the early-mid 90s they regularly missed the show and there was much speculation as to whether or not the show would continue running. But here we are nearly 20 years later and it's still going as strong as ever!

    Proof, if ever there needed to be any, that Mac-Evangelists and Apple Fanbois are NOT the same thing ;)

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    1. Mike Moyle
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      Well...

      "But here we are nearly 20 years later and it's still going as strong as ever!"

      I'll agree with you when they come back to Boston, as well! (Well... MAYBE I'd accept New York...)

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  2. Sean Timarco Baggaley

    Apple seem to be moving away from these shows.

    There's been a trend in recent years for them to announce new products on their own turf, at their own "events". As Semihere points out, Apple not appearing at MacWorld isn't news, and they haven't always announced much when they were there.

    MacWorld—and similar events—are an awkward choice for a major product launch: you really don't want to spring a brand new device on your third-party development and gadget community right in the middle of a show. The result is inevitable: their product hogs all the limelight, while everyone else at the expo gets shafted in the publicity stakes. It also means each company's stall is swamped by idiots asking what they think of the new iHardware. Will their software work on the new hardware? When will it be released?

    I wouldn't want to be running the Mariner (Write and Calc) stand, or Nisus' when Apple have just announced an update to iWorks. They might as well just pack up and go home for all the coverage their own—much more mature—apps will get. It's bad for business.

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    1. Euchrid
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      Apple moving away

      Some very good points.

      From Apple’s point of view, a couple of reasons it shifted away from the MacWorld events is because people were expecting big product announcements. The downside of this was that if none were made, the share price suffered slightly, whilst people put off purchasing new kit until the MW events (and if nothing was announced, anecdotal evidence suggested that they held off even longer figuring something new must be around the corner).

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Badgers

    No Apple...

    "I think the single most significant factor that's going to determine the success of Macworld in the future is what the people who aren't here are going to say about it."

    Let's see what the commentards write...

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