“There’ll be no Steve Jobs keynote, no gigantic Apple booth, and only about half as many exhibitors — roughly 220 vs. nearly 500 last year, according to Ars Technica,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“But IDG World Expo has determined that the show must go on — at least for one more year — and so from Tuesday Feb. 9 to Saturday Feb. 13, San Franciso’s Moscone Center will host the software vendors, accessory makers, iPhone developers, fanmag publishers, celebrity bloggers, AAPL investors and Mac faithful that are the Apple community,” Elmer-DeWitt reports.
Elmer-DeWitt’s five highlights:
• David Pogue, Thursday 9 a.m. PT
• Kevin Smith, Thursday 2 p.m. PT
• Leo Laporte, Friday 2 p.m. PT
• John Gruber, Friday 4:30 p.m. PT
• iPad discussion: Saturday 1 p.m. PT
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Thrilling. Wake us when it’s over or when IDG World Expo comes to their senses, whichever comes first.
Macworld 2010 is now a vestigial event. IDG is dragging around the corpse just like they did in New York and Boston. How long until IDG buries the poor, decaying thing this time?
MacDailyNews Note: 7:55am PT: There seems to be some confusion as evidenced by some of the reader feedback below. To clarify: We’re not saying don’t go. We’re not saying don’t support the companies that show up this year. We’re simply saying that we find it to be far less interesting and we wouldn’t rush to book plane tickets and hotel rooms for next year.
MacDailyNews Note: 10:05am PT: More clarification: Nobody loved Macworld Conferences and Expos more than us. “Loved,” past tense, as in: When there were real Macworld Expos. We will miss them, but since we have had over a year now to get over it, and they are an anachronism, please forgive us for not being maudlin today.
We’d rather see it dead than lingering too long; a pitiful, poorly-attended shell of what it once was.
Apple conducts localized mini Macworld Conferences and Expos every day of the year in hundreds of locations worldwide. More info: here.
Wow, after reading the comments in this blog, it’s not hard to understand why the media refers to Apple fans as cultists, etc. Seriously people, get a life. Macworld without Apple is a snoozefest. Acknowledging that fact doesn’t mean you care any less about Macs or all things Apple. It’s just acknowledging reality. MDN is right on the money with this one and I applaud them for telling it like it is rather than pandering to a bunch of pseudo-religious cultists that vent in these forums.
I used to look forward to checking the MDN site daily for news. No more. I will get my Mac news elsewhere. This site is as boring as they describe the Expo to be. Pathetic. Really.
All those fans that loved Macworld so much, when was the last time you actually bought the magazine.
I still have a copy of the first edition and for years it was an compulsory subscription. But then the started writing articles that you would swear were authored by some of the ah’s here.
Anybody here going? Based on the noise, it looks like a lot of BS. And smells of the same naysayers that crawl here.
Without Apple, MacWorld is more like a zombie crawl. Cut its head off and move along.
MDN is really losing it… you criticize all the “desperate” claims by anyone you hate, but you’re making more and more of your own… one has to wonder???
This is getting more and more like a Glen Beck hatefest.
MDM is fast moving to the end of my list of must check sites… after MW, TUAW and MacRumors… soon to fall off the bookmark bar!
tom
OT: PoliTards will be offended!
tom O’Connell sez: “This is getting more and more like a Glen Beck hatefest.”
Indeed.
Of course it is inevitable that people get swept up in ‘The Spirit of the Age’, aka zeitgeist. That spirit in the USA is dead simple: Political Deceit, or as I call it: the Festival Of Deceit (FOD).
Sad to say MDN are have a strong streak of poliTardiness. Why they consider that professional behavior is difficult to imagine. On the other hand, the comments sections for each article have rarely been professionally oriented either. Basically, anything goes. It’s negative anarchy / berzerker behavior often enough that throwing in poliTardiness seems inevitable.
The remaining problem of course is that political discussion here is 100% non sequitur. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Mac Daily News. That’s why I like marking my political comments as ‘OT’, OFF TOPIC.
And yeah. I think it’s time I worked a little harder at finding my Mac news elsewhere. Shame.
Has anybody else noted the number of guys dissing MDN are the same trolls that usually dis Apple?
And talk about rats jumping ship, perhaps a read of Jim Dalrymple’s article, “Macworld Expo 2010: Success story or a disaster waiting to happen*” will help clear the air.
“As for the future of the show — I don’t hold out much hope. For the first time since 1996, I will not be attending the show. Instead, I’ll be at the NAMM music trade show covering news from those Mac developers.” Jim Dalrymple. Former Cheif News Editor of Macworld 1999-2009
*http://www.loopinsight.com/2010/01/04/macworld-expo-2010-success-story-or-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen/
P.S., For the 2 to 3 grand it would cost to fly to San Francisco plus a weeks food/lodging/entertainment, I could buy another Mac. And I don’t need anybody to advise me what model.
MDMac –
Relax, guy.
You said your point, which is fine, but then you came back again, again, and again. That’s just unhealthy knee-jerk defence of MDN which suggest this is your main gig.
As for the guys who are “dissing MDN” as you put it, it seems almost everyone, from the Trolls to the more seasoned past MacWorld participants, think this went too far.
I agree with them.
@MDmac
First of all, it will be quite a challenge for you to find a reasonably technically-savy person who is more enthusiastic and appreciative of Apple products than myself.
Secondly, MacWorld magazine and whether we subscribe to it or not (I do) has nothing to do with this issue.
Thirdly, 99% of the time I really enjoy the MDN Takes; they are usually both enlightened and entertaining (the major reason I visit here 20 times a day). Up to this point my only criticisms of MDN have been its unnecessary interjection of partisan politics into this forum, and a couple of times in the past where they made really thoughtless and inconsiderate “jokes” about individuals with developmental disabilities.
That said, in my view MDNs remarks here are totally out of place in a communication venue intended for Mac/Apple enthusiasts. In effect MDN is not only disparaging the MacWorld Expo event, but also disparaging those who chose to go to the “Snoozefest” this year. IMHO their comments are way off the mark and downright insulting.
I have supported Apple through thick and thin since 1986 and without the Mac “faithful” it’s possible Apple might not still be here today. So no die-hard Apple supporters = no Apple = no MDN.
Who knows what future fortunes may bring?… there might come a time when MDN wishes they had not pissed on this year’s MacWorld Expo and those who chose to participate in it.
Leave it to MacDailyNews to tell the unvarnished truth.
MDmac sez: “Has anybody else noted the number of guys dissing MDN are the same trolls that usually dis Apple?”
No I hadn’t! I certainly am one of those who has been criticizing MDN over the past year. Seeing as I’m a 3 star General in the Computer Warz who lost count how many anti-Apple trolls I have trampled over the past 15 years on the net, your question seems a bit obtuse to me. Perhaps you would like to rephrase it, or withdraw it all together?
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Macworld expo SF has been good for Apple. When Apple was teetering under the direction of chairman Gil, macworld continued to focus the mac community on all the great things you can do with a mac. When the focus shifted to ipods, Macworld was there. It gave Apple a natural free week of publicity to show their newest stuff and show it in its best light. I understand their decision, a thousand apple stores are like a thousand macworld expos that are open 7 days a week.
But there’s something to be said about concentration. I never left a macworld without new stuff that helped my business and my life, I often would see things there that became stategic plans and implementations days weeks or months later.
It is far easier to trust your purchase of something you have held in your hands and have talked to the engineers about than something you read about from an internet maven.
I’m going to macworld, and I hope it lives long and prospers with or without Apple’s official presence.
… And I guess I should add to my previous post, I have NOT criticized MDN regarding the moribund nature of MacWorld Expo. I mourn their inevitable passing just as they do. I LOVED MacWorld Expo over here on the east coast. That died years ago. I sobbed for days. (;_;)
As ever, please think out your statements folks before you make them. Trolls never will. That’s their nature. But the rest of us are capable of intelligent concepts.
@Big Als MBP: It was on my bucket list too. Too bad.
@TheDataDude
I also place myself in the same category, e.g., having bought my first Mac day one, 110 since and counting, develop, create, deploy, support and manage major solutions to some of the largest Fortune 500’s for the past 26 years.
Macworld magazine was the forerunner of the Macworld Conferences. Their book was my bible for years. It became part of my library and was even placed next to my Playboy Collection. You are right, it has nothing to do with this issue, but I should have asked, when was the last time anybody here even looked at the magazine or supported it or the organization in anyway. I blame the demise of the Macworld Conference, in part, because of the editorial stance they have taken against Apple in the past 3-4 years.
I too monitor MDN. My iPhone notifies me instantaneously throughout the day. I look at the headlines; if it interest me, i read the editorial. If it interests me, I read the full original text fully. I never make a comment until I have done so. My point has for the past few years, attended, presented, loved the event/contacts, despised the organizers, their editorials and anti-Apple/Mac attitude.
Believe it or not, I seldom read the comments of this or any other editor, just as I don’t give much thought for the opinions of the editors of the New York Times or The Washington Post. I prefer to read the news and draw my own conclusions.
Again, I would like to point out that even the staff, past and present, as well as the displayers are downplaying or outright demeaning the importance of the conference. I don’t see where MDN or its editor after reading his comments thoroughly is chastising those who wish to or are participating or attending it.
There are many products that will never make it to the Apple Store shelves…so to imply that the Apple Stores will be able to replace MacWorld is ludicrous. Will Apple Store employees be able to demonstrate the latest features of the new Adobe Creative Suite, or for that matter the potential Adobe-killer? And what about some of the new adaptive technologies than can help those who have lost use of their hand(s) to illness or injury? Most times in the Apple Store, I’m lucky if I can get near anyone to ask a question; good luck finding a machine with Dragon Naturally Speaking or any sort of adaptive keyboard on it, or even anyone able and willing to demonstrate the built-in accessibility features of the Mac OS.
@ Justme2
Unfortunately, Adobe has pulled out of the conference and Nuance isn’t there either.
The conference is down from 500 exhibitors last year to less than 200 this year.
A list of the exhibitors can be found here: http://www.macworldexpo.com/expo
Good luck.
Perhaps Apple should realize that the zealous folks who made MacWorld a success, are the same folks that made Apple a success. Arrogance is what has killed Microsoft. Arrogantly disregarded the loyal can backfire and Apple (Jobs) better wake up to the reality. A little gratitude goes a long way. The folks that do the MacWorld symposium deserve a lot of credit. Imagine where Apple would be without any MacWorld. Apple may have tired with trying to come up with a killer unit every MacWorld, however, nobody pushed them on this. It was essentially a come-together opportunity for many in the Mac community. It is shortsighted at best that Apple stopped supporting the events.
The beginning of the end was when they changed MacWorld Expo New York to MacWorld Expo Boston for no other reason than to line their pockets from the incentives that Boston promised them.
Thanks a lot for the post! I hope to read more from you!
American Eagle Gold
You know what, this is the last straw.
I’m sick of reading the arrogant remarks in the MDN “takes”.
I’ll get my news from elsewhere. There’s plenty of other places.