The end of an era for Macworld Expo

For several years, trade shows — technology trade shows in particular — have been in serious decline. From Comdex to E3, large trade shows have been dying out or drastically changing their focus. Even Macworld Expo hasn't been immune, as the East Coast show was canceled after the 2005 event. (The Expo was moved from New York in 2004, and Apple declined to participate in the Boston show that year; the show lasted only one more year before being canceled.) The annual San Francisco Macworld Expo, however, seemed safe from the troubles. For nearly 20 years, the January event has been the one place to see and be seen in the world of all things Apple.

With Tuesday's announcement that the upcoming Expo is Apple's last, however, that era is coming to an end. While it's entirely possible the show will survive as a smaller, more-focused version of its prior self, it simply won't be the huge, all-encompassing event that it's been with Apple's participation. Without Apple's huge booth — and the promise of cool new products delivered in an enthralling keynote presentation — both vendors and attendees probably won't feel a compelling need to be at the show each January, so we're not going to see a huge show with thousands and thousands of attendees walking a show floor loaded with hundreds of companies…and that's really too bad.

As a business person, I completely understand Apple's decision — not being tied to a huge annual event, occurring just after the Christmas buying season, is a good thing. Not spending a small fortune on everything involved in participating in a huge trade show is a good thing. Having more flexibility in releasing products whenever you want to is a good thing. Not having to come up with One More Thing every year is a good thing. So really, I get it; it makes perfect business sense. As an individual and Mac enthusiast, though, it's one of the worst things to happen to the Mac community in many years.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this will have a negative long-term impact on Apple. There may be some short-term pain, but I do think it really is the right business decision (that doesn't mean I agree with it, just that I understand it). But for the community that surrounds the Mac, this is truly the end of an era. The most-affected group will be the Mac fans who made the annual trek to the Expo. Speaking as one of those folks — yes, it's my job to go, but I still have a blast going — I'll definitely miss the keynote (read a story on the 18 reasons Steve Job won't give a keynote), the One More Things, the cool new products (not just from Apple but the other vendors as well), and that great psychological kick I get from seeing the show every year. But those aren't the things I'll miss the most.

What I'll really miss is the once-a-year chance to meet with people who I would otherwise never get to meet in the flesh. When I ran macosxhints.com as an independent site, for example, I hosted a "Mac OS X Hints reader dinners" during Expo week in 2005. I had the chance to meet and talk to about 30 macosxhints.com readers who previously were only screen names and e-mail addresses to me. Converting those meaningless data items into real people, and spending a few hours talking with them, was priceless, and well worth the effort involved in setting everything up.

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