New Orleans.

Think about it. MacWorld: The Big Easy tour 2006.

Here's Apple's chance to put their money where their mouth is and support a rebuilding of the city down the road. Heck, with the $4 billion+ in cash they have, they could build a new stadium for the city, own it, and lease it to the Saints. It's going to take some major corporate dollars if the city is ever going to come back. Many have their doubts. Hopefully, the oil companies (who have been moving their personnel out of the city for the past 20 years) will realize it's time they reinvest in the nation's largest port.

I never thought I would say this either, but I miss it. It's only 70 miles away for me, and I know it will still be there, but right now, in the condition it is in, it actually pulls at my heart a bit to know how bad off it really is. I was born there, left 21 years ago, and yet, it still calls back to me.

Who'd have thunk it, hey Vern?

J

I've always been amazed there's never really been any Mac shows in Dallas. Big airport, lots of facilities, more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the country, not a bad nightlife- though real partiers will want to head further south to Austin and San Antonio. I mean, If you can't do both coasts, split the difference, man.

Mac slaves always side with Apple. Should've gone with Boston instead of siding with Steve Jobs.

I agree with Apple's decision not to go back to Boston. That is not the factor that brought down MacWorld (East). I have been attending MacWorld Boston/NY since 1990. As the years progressed the shows have gotten smaller each year. The internet is the main reason the need for these shows has diminshed.

It's 1988. I need to find a new printer for my office. How do I do so? Buy a trade magazine, hope it contains an ad or review for a printer that meets my needs. Wait for a Mac Connection catalog to come in the mail. There were not as many and as frequent as today's bombardment of catalogs back in 1988 as there are today. Going to a store was my last option. If I lived in Maine, going to a store might mean driving more that 100 miles.

Going to MacWorld was an important trip filled with lots of goals, to see, touch, demo, and research as many technical solutions as possible. It also was a great tech support source to meet the manufacturer or programmer and get the fix or workaround you had been searching for. Vendors would time release of new products with MacWorld so sometimes you were seeing it before anyone else. Many mom and pop vendors were there, with solutions that were not advertised in magazines and not carried by the major vendors of the time. We came home with BAGS of literature. So much to carry sometimes that we fedexed them home.

The dawn of the internet has brought this information gathering tool right into our homes and offices. We can get all the literature we want as PDFs, get opinions from others before we buy, buy it online, e-mail the support team if we have issues, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love(d) MacWorld and hate to see it die. There is no real substitute for a see-touch-demo that you can only get at a show.

MacWorld SF will be next. I'm sorry to say that, but the same is happening there. Show is smaller each year and the expense to vendors keeps rising. Even large vendors that should be able to afford to attend have stayed away some years. Adobe comes to mind as one major vendor that has sat out a MacWorld.

This is not just a trend for MacWorld but for all trade shows in general. The expense for all may become too great and poof no more show. Sad but true in my opinion.

The biggest problem with an east coast show is that Apple and other California based vendors have to ship out their equipment, displays, props, and show staff for a whole week. A show budget for a mid-sized Mac vendor could easily top $50K in the heyday of these shows. Imagine what Apple was spending on hotels just to attend!

So with that in mind, if Apple could have its other MacWorld show in California, the employees could just drive or stay with friends. After-all, it's not unheard of for people in the Bay Area to drive up to Tahoe for a day of skiing and drive back the same day.

Here are my suggestions:

MacWorld Yreka -- A short jaunt up the 5, not quite to Oregon.
MacWorld Hemet -- This could probably be covered by the Mission Viejo and UTC stores.
MacWorld Pearsonville -- Might work if Ridgecrest isn't available.
MacWorld Coalinga -- fog from cows upwind rivals morning fog in The City.

and my personal favorite...

MacWorld Hayfork -- Can vegans eat spotted owl?

They can just run a looping QT keynote, live in-store (only), during a special "new product release weekend" and they will easily draw more than the 50-60 thousand people that would show up at an East or West coast show... and in a Apple store where customers could purchase on the spot.

It could be done on short notice, when needed, without creating that usual "slow sales" dip that happens when people put-off purchases before the big scheduled show.

I've never gone to an East Coast macworld expo, even though I live in Florida. The east coast expos have always been too small to bother with the expense of traveling to NY or Boston. If there was one in Orlando (or Miami), on the other hand, I'd go.
When I was living in L.A. I went to the San Francisco MacWorld every year and I'll probably go next year.

Are you nuts?! I can see the headlines now: "49er fans find something to be passionate about, destroy Cupertino."

I would guess that the Massholes brought it on themselves. Have you ever talked to Red Sox and Patriots fans? Absolutely unbearable. They completely disprove the idea of man as the ultimate of God's/nature's creations.

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tbone1 wrote:
I would guess that the Massholes brought it on themselves. Have you ever talked to Red Sox and Patriots fans? Absolutely unbearable. They completely disprove the idea of man as the ultimate of God's/nature's creations.

I must say it is as nice as it is expensive. My 4 year old granddaughter loved Disney World, which is good as the trip was more expensive than a 30" display. The 15 month old grandson didn't understand what it was all about, but was too busy soaking it in to cry or fuss. I'm more worn out than my credit card.

I believe that New Orleans might be a good choice as long as it was held before the tropical storm season. I've been there more than a few times and it is great for those that like good food, plus plenty of night life (in normal times) for those that would rather spend their money on liquid meals. Even more important is the fact that the city will need the type of show that Apple can put on.

New York will probably head the list of possible locations if the IDG gets their act together. This is one time where they will have to go hat in hand to Steve J and ask where he would like it to be.

The shows don't really provide much for consumers. The announcements are published within minutes, Jobs' presentations are up within hours. Why should I spend $1000 or more to go to a show?

What would be really nice would be simulcasts of the main presentations, but only to dealers' stores (not just Apple stores--all major retailers). That would bring people in and create business, especially if the dealers had preloaded stock of new products to sell.

As i have been saying for Years: the East coast Expo DOES make sense!
NY is the Business capital of the World, as well as the Music and Arts capital...just walk into any of the NY area Apple stores, or Tekserve, DataVision, or Digital Society and see the customers walk out with Apple product. The rest of you just don't get it!! So the NY show was smaller. BIG deal. It was supposed to be smaller. I know because i helped run the users group Booth from the first year to the last. The one year it was a Big show was the first year, when the iMac was introduced.