My initial cynicism regarding the small size of Macworld has been softened somewhat by the sheer number of people that, it seems, have arrived to see what’s happening. Obviously, the smaller show floor does lend itself to a more crowded feel, but really I think there are a lot of people here. Not just media and other assorted freeloaders, but real honest to God punters with cash burning a hole in their wallet.
A lot of the buzz in the media room surrounds what a pain it is fighting your way on to stands to meet with the PR and CEOs and this can only be a good thing. As Mark Felt is supposed to have said: Follow the money. The same statement is true here. If the numbers backup the ‘feeling’ that this Macworld is indeed very, very busy then maybe the show will be back next year.
Vendors seem to be echoing the sentiment that the ‘community’ is here in force. Crash Plan say they are 5x busier than last year and The Omni Group are indicating that it’s a similar story for them.
Also, Paul Kent told me they came within a couple of hundred of last years’ first day attendance. Official figures yet to be released.
This year they’ve decided to use an attendee number as opposed to a turnstile number. This means that last year if you entered the show floor left and came back you counted as two, this year it’s just the one. This makes the opening day attendance even more interesting. There are no numbers yet, but if what Paul Kent says is true then Macworld really is much more than Apple.
One other personal aside to my Macworld odyssey is that PEOPLE KNOW WHO I AM. This is scary and rewarding, though much more scary than I thought it would be. I’ve me the odd reader who knows my name, but my professional counterparts? Weird.
