MacWorld 2011

A few pixels from the Other Spread

by multi-platform reporter Bayle Emlein

At long last the San Francisco Macworld show has sailed out from under the shadow of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) by moving to the end of January. Now we can have our dessert after digesting the early January megashow in Las Vegas.

Macworld--the trade show as well as the magazine--started as a celebration of all things Mac, as in Macintosh Computers, OS Seven (and later), the graphical interface with a color display, built-in sound, and other innovations to drool over. This is the second year that Apple has had no formal association with Macworld, though the show still revolves around their products and is attended by groupies whose enthusiasm would delight any rock star or evangelist.

The Macworld Expo differs from CES in several other dimensions, some literal. With around 225 vendors crammed into a single hall, it is possible to cover the whole Expo floor in a meaningful way. Vendors are supported in, if not encouraged to, sell items right there on the floor. The target audience is the general public, or at least as general as the Mac/iDevice using public might be imagined to be. And there appears to be no minimum age-limit for attendees. I crossed paths with a giggling high-school field trip that was learning how to interview presenters and identify the salient aspects of a product and a display. 

This is just a tease, the full report will be in our March issue!!