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Macworld / iWorld 2014 rescheduled to March 27-29
Macworld is reporting that the premiere Apple event for iFans, Macworld/iWorld, has been rescheduled for 2014. Initially, the event had been scheduled for February 1-3, 2014, conflicting with the Super Bowl and moving the schedule to Saturday - Monday instead of the usual Thursday - Saturday timing. Macworld's Lex Friedman broke the news this morning, and said that IDG World Expo will formally announce the date change tomorrow. One other benefit of moving the event to the end of March 2014 is that it gives the expo some distance from CES, which is often just one or two weeks before Macworld/iWorld.
Macworld | iWorld attendance steady in 2012; many newbies in the crowd
Attendance at this year's Macworld | iWorld event was approximately the same as last year's Macworld Expo -- about 25,000 people -- according to IDG World Expo, the group that organizes the "ultimate fan event." A wrap-up news release from IDG World Expo noted that about 40 percent of the attendees at this year's event were first-time visitors, which may translate to growth in attendance for next year's event scheduled for January 31 - February 2, 2013. Conference attendance was up a whopping 145 percent over last year, thanks in part to the $75 iFan Pass that made its debut in 2012. In the past, expo tickets were relatively inexpensive, but the cost of going to the conference sessions was prohibitively high. The iFan pass gave show-goers unlimited access to the educational sessions, show floor, music performances, and film screenings that made up this year's event. IDG World Expo has posted a gallery of photos from Macworld | iWorld as well as a video (see below) of Friday's happenings at Moscone West. Both are worth checking out for a taste of this year's event.
Modest Mouse headlining Macworld | iWorld Opening Night BLAST
Last week, I interviewed IDG World Expo's Paul Kent about the upcoming Macworld | iWorld 2012. After discussing all of the exciting changes to this year's event (the video will be part of this Wednesday's TUAW TV Live), Paul said he had an announcement that he'd spring on us on Monday. That announcement was just sent out -- Macworld | iWorld starts off with a bang the night of January 25, 2012 with a concert headlined by Grammy-nominated indie rockers Modest Mouse. The concert, known officially as the Macworld | iWorld Opening Night BLAST, is at The Warfield, a 2300-seat venue on Market Street not far away from the home of the expo at Moscone West. Doors for the concert open at 7 PM, and tickets are available now as part of a US$110 (today only) package that also includes the $75 iFan pass for attending all events that are part of Macworld | iWorld. It's definitely not too early to start thinking about getting your iFan pass for Macworld | iWorld; the price with the concert jumps up to $135 tomorrow, and seats are limited.
Looking forward to Macworld Expo 2011, despite John Dvorak
OK, I'm the first to admit that I didn't feel Macworld Expo had much of a future without Apple. After all, I was the guy responsible for the graphic that showed a gravestone with "Macworld Expo 1985 - 2010: Rest In Peace" engraved on it (my apologies to Paul Kent of IDG World Expo for that...). But even in that post, I still ended on a note of hope about the show. Many of our readers, however, agreed in an informal poll that the show had seen better days and that without Apple, Macworld Expo 2010 would be the last stop. Longtime PC Magazine writer John Dvorak took the decidedly negative path in a recent post titled "Macworld Expo's Iffy Future." Based on a single quick walk through of the Expo captured on video, he concluded that the show is dead: "Last one? I think so." After spending a few days at Macworld Expo 2010, I have exactly the opposite opinion to Dvorak. 2010 was the year that many vendors stayed away from the show, thinking that it just wasn't worth the time and effort. Nearly every exhibitor I talked to at the show said without reservation that they'd be back next year, and I've heard from many hardware and software vendors who say that even though they weren't in San Francisco this year, they'll be there in 2011. Just as I'm certain that spring crocuses will soon peek through the snow, I'm confident that Macworld Expo will be back in 2011 with even more exhibitors and visitors. Why? Let's go through some reasons.
E for All advertised at Macworld Expo
IDG World Expo, the company that puts on the Macworld Expo, is already advertising its Tea for Two Expo E for All Expo at this Mac convention with stacks of fliers greeting show visitors. (We hope there's a Mac games audience here this week; is that the reason for the fliers? Is IDG Expo just trying to reach show-goers on the way to the iPhone?)Of course, it's hard to predict the show vibe of the EA Expo E for All Expo, but these cards and their edgy Halloween font scream "attitude to the max" or maybe just "quick turnaround." If E3 died because it cost exhibitors too much to cause a scene -- waving shiny models at retailers and the media -- here's hoping that E4EVR E for All reigns in some of the hype. Nah, who are we kidding? If it's aimed at a consumer audience, won't that just be an excuse for more noise?See the full fliers after the break.
