Apple took the centrestage of the Macworld Expo which opened yesterday (Jan 6). Its booth could be seen the moment attendees entered the hall.
Apple staff manned the long rows of iMacs and Macbooks to show off the new features of iLife09 and iWork09 which comes with every new Mac computer sold from now on.
For those who can't get near a computer, they could attend the general demos held in the small theatrette in the middle of the Apple booth. Unfortunately for those who want to touch and feel the new 17-inch Macbook Pro, there were only four units available.
Apple is among the 500 other exhibitors who are taking part in the exhibition which is spread over two halls in the Moscone expo centre here.
Mac faithful flock to Macworld to see what is new for their Macs, what new solutions are and of course, what new stuff Apple is offering. Newcomers to the show will see accessories that support the iPod family of digital music players, the iPhone and the Mac computers.
So there're skins and more skins and cases, and special bags of all kinds, shapes and sizes for Mac notebooks and even desktop computers. Since did not take part, Griffin was the big accessory exhibitor. There were also iSkin and Moshi and new companies like Dermis (www.dermiscases.com/) which had edgy looking dragon and pirate motifs on iPod skins and cases and Scosche (scosche.com) with the conventional silicone skins and polycarbonate skins for the iPod/iPhone product families.
There were also interesting marketing concepts introduced to achieve 'stickiness' with buyers. Psyclops has interesting iPod protective cases and its buyers can go online to register at its website (psyclopshq.com) and send groovy music birthday cards to friends.
Driving while trying to work the iPod or iPhone is just plain dangerous. Why not fix a holder device on your car dashboard? ProClipUSA (proclipusa.com) sells special holders on dashboards which allow users to manage their iPhones in a handsfree environment. Holders built into the dashboard allow iPhones owners to talk safely without without any worry of being booked by a traffic policeman.
Then there is Logitech with its nice mice and speakers, Shure with its in-ear headphones and Targus, better known its bags, showed its new offerings in cooling mats, file sharing cables and wireless and Bluetooth mice.
External hard drives were represented by the usual suspects like Lacie and Iomega. With GarageBand, the popular music application from Apple's iLife software suite, there're a handful of companies that support music on the Mac platform. Guitar Centre, a leading retailer of guitars, showed off its digital amplifiers, keyboards and other equipment. Euphonix (euphonix.com) demonstrated its digital equipment for video and music production.
But Macworld isn't all about accessories. There are business solutions available too. VMWare demonstrated its virtualisation applications for the Mac platform while IBM offered its range of information on-demand applications.
Intuit had its tax and spreadsheet applications, so did a couple of other smaller companies. MacPractice (macpractice.com) showed its complete Mac solution that can be used in a doctor's office like scheduling, imaging and database solutions which can be integrated for quick reference on the iPhone.
For artists and designers there's Madbook (www.axiotron.com) offering which turns a Macbook into a tablet Mac that lets you draw, sketch and paint anywhere and everywhere you go.
These items caught my eye as I walked the show floor:
Colourful flat USB cables from Lacie: More popular for its external hard disk products, Lacie has come up with these colourful cables turn ugly wires into conversation making topics. The cables come in blue, yellow, orange that can be used to connect hard drives, printers, cameras and cellphones.
Notebook bags are common at any computer show. But the Tenba Roadies (www.tenba.com) have something different. Giant black and sturdy bags with compartments for you to carry your iMac or desktop Macs.
Want to share music with your friends? Try RockStar from Belkin (www.belkin.com). The starshape device has five ports which makes it fun to create your own music experience.
Skullcandy is a popular headphones for extreme sports. It looks cool and is known for its durability. Specially good on your bike, mountain climbing or on a skateboard.
Accessories were the most sought after items at Macworld with many attendees, attracted by the bargain prices, snapping up the nifty gadgets.
Unlike other computer shows where various PC makers show off the power of their machines, Macworld is about the Macintosh ecosystem. Only one computer hardware is on show, that is the Mac product family. The rest supply third-party applications and accessories.
Apple will no longer exhibit at Macworld next year. This long running exhibition of all things Apple is now 25 years old. Macworld organiser, IDG, say that the expo has been slated for Jan 4 to 8 2010. It seems that Macworld will continue for at least another year.
