Reporter's Notebook: MWSF 2005

Published January 15, 2005

By C. W. Oberleitner

Before leaving San Francisco to return to Los Angeles, o-meon.com editor C. W. Oberleitner filed a copy of his "Reporter's Notebook" with some additional stories about this week's now concluded Macworld Conference and Expo.

Good News, Bad News

Over seven hundred members of the media from all parts of the globe applied for credentials to this year's Macworld Conference and Expo, a substantial increase over previous shows. The increased turnout caught both Apple and IDG (International Data Group), the producers of MWSF, off guard. It seems there was only space for 200 reporters and journalists in Moscone Center's grand ballroom.

Early on the morning of January 11, Apple and IDG scrambled to open up what they quickly dubbed the press "overrun room," essentially a conference room equipped with two huge video screens used to show the closed-circuit feed of Steve Jobs' keynote address.

As members of the media entered the convention center, we were asked if we had preregistered for the show. Regardless of your answer, virtually everyone with media credentials, including myself, was sent downstairs to the overrun room. Later it was learned that only those news organizations that had registered with Apple, rather than expo producer IDG, were granted access to the live presentation.

I was in pretty good company, surrounded by nearly five hundred journalists from as far away as Australia, Great Britain, Germany, and France. Even reporters from some of the leading Mac magazines, including several from IDG's own magazines, were sent off to what we dubbed the "TV room."

Unlike past years, this year's Steve Jobs keynote was not simulcast on the Web or broadcast via satellite to various private screening locations around the world. The lack of real-time access to Jobs' keynote was the main reason so many news organizations sent reporters to San Francisco to cover the event.

Theories abounded as to why Apple had decided not to broadcast or webcast Jobs' keynote. Some speculated he was incensed by the volume and accuracy of the product leaks in the media during the weeks leading up to MWSF. The real reason turned out to be far less dramatic.

This was the first Macworld keynote address in which the video portion of the keynote, as well as the closed-circuit convention center broadcast, was done entirely in High Definition. Apple was either unwilling or unable to produce an analog simulcast of program for webcast and satellite transmission.

It was interesting to watch people who, under normal circumstances sitting just a few feet away from Apple's master salesman, would hang on Jobs' every word were now squirming in their chairs. The famous Steve Jobs reality distortion field seemed to have lost some of its effectiveness, as many of the participants in the TV room found it increasingly difficult to sit still as the keynote progressed through its second hour. More than a few in the room were heard grousing out loud that they hoped Jobs would quickly wrap things up.

A Year of Living HD-V

Last spring, Apple introduced a series of new video and mass storage management products to join its suite of professional, digital video editing tools during the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas. Key among the announcements made by Apple was that all of its high-end video tools would now be HD compatible.

During this past week's keynote address, not only did Steve Jobs say that for Apple 2005 would be the year of HD, he also announced HD compatibility for Apple's consumer and prosumer video applications.

On January 22, Apple will release the latest version of its popular iLife suite of digital lifestyle tools. iLife, which retails for $79, contains iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GrageBand and iTunes. Both iMovie and iDVD will now be HD compatible, allowing users to import their own home-made movies from digital HD-V camcorders, edit, and burn them to DVD in HD.

Apple's prosumer application Final Cut Express, the just slightly less-featured version of Apple's very successful pro video editing application Final Cut, hasn't been left out either. Final Cut Express HD will debut at an unspecified date sometime in February, and will retail for $299. Current owners will be able to upgrade to the HD version for $99.

With the debut of Final Cut Express HD, Apple's entire line of consumer, prosumer, and professional digital video editing applications will be HD compatible. This will probably make them the first software manufacturer to offer a full line of HD video-ready applications.

Location, Location, Location

One frequently asked question, following Steve Jobs' keynote address, was why had Apple chosen January 22, a Saturday, to make its new "Mac mini" computer and software upgrades available for sale? After all, the keynote audience responded with overwhelming enthusiasm to the Mac mini, and throngs gathered at Apple's booth on the expo show floor to take in the little CPU's every feature. 'Were they not able to produce them in time for Macworld?' many expo attendees asked.

The same question also came up among journalists attending Macworld, many of whom quickly ran down analysts to try and confirm their theory that holding back the rollout of these products was part of what many perceive to be an ongoing feud between Apple and IDG.

For the second year in a row, Jobs opened his keynote address by recapping the success of Apple Retail. He said that there are now 101 Apple Retail Stores and that "they're hosting over a million visitors a week."

"That's twenty Macworlds a week around the world," he continued. "Isn't that incredible?"

For some it was a seemingly innocent remark. To most journalists, and more than a few industry analysts, it was seen as a shot across IDG's bow.

IDG, which in past years has posted Macworld attendance figures in access of 60,000, admitted that in the past it had added the number of people attending the conferences to the number of people visiting the expo show floor, even though they were often one in the same. They also said they have counted as "new attendees" those people returning to the expo show floor each day of the show.

This year, IDG announced that they had contracted an outside accounting firm to audit the attendance of MWSF 2005. The final, verified total will not be available until later this month. IDG, however, said that it estimated the actual attendance for MWSF 2005 would be approximately 32,000.

"Macworld (Expo) is dying," said one longtime east coast Apple consultant. "The costs are huge to attract just a few thousand people to the show. They're ridiculous when compared to the volume of traffic Apple can drive to the stores."

"That's why Apple chose a Saturday to roll out the Mac mini," offered another consultant. "All the press about the new products being available will drive people who couldn't be here (MWSF) to their nearest Apple Retail Store to see the mini and the iPod shuffle."

The two consultants, and several of their colleagues, went on to say that Saturday was an ideal day to debut new Apple products, especially products aimed at the home and prosumer markets. "There're more folks off on Saturday. And, who doesn't like a trip to the Apple Store?"

iPodworld and Auto Show

IDG may have more problems than the soaring cost-per-impression of attracting attendees to its Macworld expos on its hands. Exhibitors were in a relative short supply at this year's MWSF.

Because of its close proximity to Apple's headquarters, just south of San Francisco in Cupertino, MWSF has always been the largest, in terms of exhibitors and attendees, of the various Macworld conferences held around the world. Even before San Francisco completed the expansion of its massive Moscone Convention Center, MWSF had grown to the point where it required the combined floor space of two exhibit halls to accommodate all the vendors eager to display the latest and greatest Mac compatible hardware and software.

As recently as 2000, MWSF filled Moscone Center's massive South Hall and just slightly smaller North Hall. During the past several years, attendees noticed that less and less of the North Hall was being used by exhibitors. This year, only a tiny fraction of the North Hall was used, and then only as a lounge for conference attendees.

Things weren't a whole lot better in the South Hall. The expo filled the South Hall; however, a quick tour revealed more than a few exhibitors with only the slimmest of ties to either the Mac or Apple. For example, there was the luggage manufacturer who offered only one bag that might be used for a Mac laptop, and whose booth was otherwise filled with suitcases and travel bags of every other description.

The phenomenal success of the iPod was visible throughout the exhibit hall, with several vendors displaying only iPod accessories and absolutely nothing for the Mac.

Judging by the number of exhibits on the expo show floor, one of the most popular accessories for the iPod is the automobile. Portions of the expo show floor at this year's Macworld looked more like the LA Auto Show than a high-tech expo. Among the vehicles featured were Acura's, Mini Coopers, and two top-of-the line Mercedes Benz roadsters, all of which featured either direct or customized iPod connectivity.

Sour Apples

Late this week, according to reports in the Washington Post (registration required) and Los Angeles Times (registration required), Apple Computer, Inc., of Cupertino, California filed suit in Santa Clara Country Superior Court against Nicholas M. Ciarelli, AKA Nick dePlume, publisher of the website ThinkSecret.com.

[ThinkSecret.com was among the sites quoted in our two previous stories about predictions of new product announcements for this year's MWSF 2005.—Editor]

Furious over the accurate prediction of the announcement by Apple of a sub $500 computer, which dePlume called a headless iMac, now known as the Mac mini, Apple in court filings said:

Defendants' knowing misappropriation and disclosure of Apple's trade secrets constitutes a violation of California law and has caused irreparable harm to Apple…

In a written statement, an Apple spokesman said:

Apple's DNA is innovation, and the protection of our trade secrets is crucial to our success.

This is not Ciarelli's first brush with Apple's legal team. They have been writing to him since he began his career as a Mac rumor master in middle school demanding that he stop publishing what they referred to as proprietary Apple Computer, Inc., information. He is now a 19-year-old Harvard University freshman.

At press time, there were no stories with a filing date later than January 11, and no mention of the lawsuit brought by Apple on ThinkSecret.com's website

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