The URL from Apple’s web site appears to be:
http://www.macworldexpo.com/
While not a big developer show, it’s perhaps the best opportunity to see what’s going on in the greater Apple community. It takes place every year in early January in San Francisco.
Here’s my MWSF 2002 show report:
The security goons wouldn’t let me take photos w/o a press pass. I didn’t feel like arguing with them. I got a photo of an escalator though … not quite worth importing into iPhoto …
Honestly, this show seemed a little smaller than the last show I went to. Attendance was strong, but there weren’t many exhibitors. Even so, there was a strong showing by Adobe, Microsoft, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and other creative/pro companies. Games also got a large amount of floor space; I got to play the single-player ReturnToCastleWolfenstein for a few minutes (lots o fun!). By far the most ridiculous showing was by Sony, who had a teeny-tiny booth with a couple pictures of a digital camera and a single rep. Why bother showing up at all?
I ate a $13 dollar sandwich while I was there.
The Apple pavilion was packed with throngs of onlookers, all of which came to gawk at the new iMac. The new iron is quite nice – I’m not so sure about the hemispherical base, but the monitor assembly is excellent. The machine doesn’t photograph well though, so if you thought it looked dumb from the Time photo reserve judgement until you actually use one in person.
Most discerning individuals agreed with me in saying the biggest announcement at the show was iPhoto. It finally gives me something to do with my digital photography! I was up until 4am on Monday making a book w/ some photos that can been collecting digital-dust since 2000. They had some book samples at the show, and they do look every bit as nice as I imagined them.
The single biggest undercurrent at this show, though, was Mac OS X. Almost everyone was demoing their MOSX hardware/software – and those who weren’t didn’t have anything worth seeing (IMHO). It was a good opportunity to ask USB dongle vendors about the status of your MOSX drivers and things like that.
That’s my show report …
– MikeTrent