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Well, it's official. MacWorld Expo has been moved back to New York, where it was held last year in August. Due to the last minute move, the event is being moved from August to July and will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. In a statement released by IDG, the parent company of the Expo:
"'With Apple Computer's resurgence and the tremendous success of the recent MACWORLD Expo in San Francisco, we want to deliver the best East Coast MACWORLD Expo possible,' said Mike Hallal, CEO of IDG Expo Management Co. 'New York's Javits Center offers us the opportunity to hold MACWORLD Expo in a single venue with ample exhibit and meeting space. As a result, we are looking forward to one of the most successful East Coast MACWORLD Expos ever this summer.'
'Many of our customers and developers live in or near New York City,' said Steve Jobs, Apple Computer, Inc.'s interim CEO. 'We are bringing Apple to New York this July and we look forward to the Macintosh community rallying around us.'
MACWORLD Expo/New York will feature a 20,000 square foot exhibition by Apple, in addition to more than 250 exhibits by partners and developers, including: Adobe, Connectix, Epson, FileMaker, Hewlett Packard, Mac Publishing, L.L.C., Microsoft and 3Com, Palm Computing, Inc. MACWORLD Expo/New York '99 will continue its two successful User- and Pro-series conference programs and will feature a Town Meeting in which industry experts, key analysts and Apple executives will address the state of the Macintosh platform and emerging technologies. The exhibit floor will showcase special interest environments including the National Macintosh Gaming Championship and the Education District, along with the Consumer Showcase and Net Innovators, both of which debuted at MACWORLD Expo/San Francisco '99."
The Mac Observer Spin: This move is going to make a lot of people tense. Boston was the site for the East Coast MacWorld for many years where it was well received. The event held last year in New York suffered from poor attendance and the usual problems associated with hosting an event that size in a new location. When IDG announced the event would be moving back to Boston there was much rejoicing throughout the Mac community.
Here is the reality however. As great a host city as Boston is, the convention facilities are not quite big enough to hold an event the size that the next MacWorld promises to be. In addition, much of the reason that the event was so poorly received last year is that the entire Mac world was still in a recession. This year Apple is flying high and vendors are clamoring to exhibit. The space at the Javits center will be well used.
The rumors were that Apple was pressuring IDG to move it and apparently that pressure has succeeded. Our prediction is that this MacWorld Expo will be as resounding a success as MacWorld San Francisco was this past January.
MacWorld Expo
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