Microsoft is pulling out of CES after being there for so long. Apple pulled out of MacWorld and it has transformed the trade show into a non-tradeshow.
I was in SJ last week, and out nostalgia I went by the Apple store and picked up a apple logo t-shirt that was green. Am I an Apple fanatic? no. Did I work there for 7 years (1985-1992)? yes. Do I have an iPhone 4S and MacBook Air? Yes. What is my next tech purchase? a Verizon Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich version phone. :-)
Going through airport security at SJC a guy asked me if I was at MacWorld. I was thinking hell no. Why would I go there?
Here is a Gizmodo article on how MacWorld is now.
Macworld Is Weird Now
I love Macworld Expo. I've gone more years than I haven't out of the last dozen. But for most of those years, Apple was presenting. That's changed.
One of the indicators on how big the event was is the media coverage. Check out the press room picture.
What is interesting is the guy writing this article for Gizmodo doesn't think of himself as media.
In the past decade and change, Expo went from technology side show to main event. Post-iPod, the press arrived in greater numbers. By the time the iPhone launched, they began showing up in troop trucks. It became impossible to get a good seat. The number of exhibitors likewise swelled. It was chaos. And too normal. All the weirdos left. Or at least, there were so many normal people, the big old nerds weren't as evident. I hated that. And I especially hated the media. Fuck the media.
But then Apple pulled out. And so too did all the hangers on in the media.
One of the top things that exhibitors want besides end users at trade shows is media coverage. If writers like above hate the media who does like the media?
Is Gizmodo the media? The author of this post is an editor. I am confused. :-)
Mathew Honan