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MWExpo Boston: "Spacious!" (1/9/04)
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Meanwhile, we've come to the end of yet another Macworld Expo, and reaction to it so far has been somewhat mixed. Folks watching from home were largely underwhelmed by the Stevenote announcements, which amounted to miniPods (at a higher-than-expected price point), iLife '04 (and the related disappearance of iPhoto and iMovie as free downloads), and G5 Xserves (which most people will never have any reason to buy in the first place). Actual attendees writing in have been somewhat kinder, generally classifying the show as being a little on the sedate side, but still a positive experience overall.
Exhibitors, on the other hand, are apparently giving the show a big thumbs-up; The Mac Observer quotes several vendors who rate the gig as a solid success, although "not as strong as previous Expos." Peachpit Press reports "tremendous traffic and sales," the National Association of Photoshop Professionals says its booth was "packed for four straight days," MacCase says that "sales have been great," and MacSpeech actually sold out of its transcription software yesterday morning, which certainly counts as "a complete success." So hey, the Expo is great for business, right?
So will any of those four exhibitors be at Macworld Expo Boston in July?
Well, let's see... no, no, no, and maybe.
That's right, folks; whereas all four of the vendors mentioned above ranked this past week's show a success, only Peachpit Press is currently planning to attend the summer event, and that's still "tentative," with a final decision due in the "next two weeks." The other three-- including MacSpeech, which is just a stone's throw away in New Hampshire-- aren't even considering it. Why not? Well, duh-- it's because Apple won't be there either. And if Apple's not going, MacSpeech points out, "no one is exhibiting and no one will attend, at least not in large numbers."
It's not really going to be much of a Macworld Expo, is it? More of a sort of Macterritory Expo, or maybe a Maccounty one. On the plus side, as fewer vendors choose to participate, IDG World Expo will need to keep driving prices for booth space lower and lower to get enough exhibitors to keep tumbleweeds from rolling down the aisles. Could this finally be the year AtAT gets a booth? Hey, IDG-- we've got $42.48 cash money. Save us a 20x30.
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SceneLink (4434)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/9/04 episode: January 9, 2004: If you thought yesterday's HewlettPod announcement was a surprise to you, wait'll you hear how Microsoft and Dell felt. Meanwhile, another Expo grinds to a halt even as scads of exhibitors choose to shun the July show in Boston, and AtAT has the real story behind yesterday's historic HP-Apple music deal...
Other scenes from that episode: 4433: "Who? When? Whuzza?" (1/9/04) Okay, we've had a day for the news to sink in, now, and we think we've finally gotten our heads wrapped around yesterday's whole "HP-branded iPod" curve ball. For those of you who spent the day with your heads stuck inside a large wheel of cheese (replica or otherwise), Hewlett-Packard and Apple stunned the world yesterday by announcing that, starting this summer, HP will be selling a rebranded version of the iPod and preloading iTunes for Windows on all of its consumer Wintels, with desktop icon links to the iTunes Music Store... 4435: "You Forgot My Pickle Again" (1/9/04) This just in: AtAT operatives have provided us with covert video footage of the first closed-door meeting between Steve Jobs and Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, at which Carly raised the issue of rebranding the iPod!...
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