MACWORLD Expo - Expo Diary For Wednesday

by , 5:00 PM EDT, July 19th, 2000

I got in New York on Monday. The train was late (of course) and the city seemed imposing when walking in the street with my bags. Of course, you could not feel that you were around the Expo before heading to Javits Center. At Javits, though, you hear, eat and see nothing but MACWORLD Expo.

You see a lot of geeks and salespeople. You see a lot of computers, booths, and facilities. You also see an awful lot of media types. I’ve never seen an event or convention involving so much press!

Let’s talk about New York itself. New York might not notice MACWORLD as this is a very small event compared to the immensity that we know as New York. The city is… crazy. In a good way. You just walk around and realize how extravagant this place is. You see huge stores like Warner Bros. Stores, ESPN Zone, etc. If you go to a deli restaurant, you will find out that they will serve you sandwiches so big that you will have to keep the second half for a later meal.

Times Square? NEVER go to NY without spending a couple of hours there. You will understand once you see it.

The Javits Center is quite big too. There isn’t much to visit around it, but once inside, you do not need to get out to do everything you want.

Tuesday

The day started early, at around 9am at the warm-up rally. You can read more about it in Kyle D'Addario's write up of the event. The rest of the day was pretty quiet for most of us. I was supposed to meet some people but we missed each other at the meeting point. So, while looking around and trying to find them, I encountered this totally unfriendly security guard. If you are at the Expo and see this guy, he will be more interested in telling you what you can’t do than to answer your questions. Nice manners, buddy :-)

The only thing that I found noteworthy today was the Canon party, which I attended. Man, this WAS a party. Lots of food and drink, lots of people, nice cigar girls, and a few Mac heads.

Wednesday

After rushing to arrive on time, I realized that the keynote room is huge and the coverage is huge too. Some mainstream media were present as well as a lot of Macintosh followers. This was nothing since the keynote itself was dazzling.

Think about it! All new iMacs, the Power Mac G4 Cube, multi-processing G4’s, the new keyboard and mouse and a few other announcements such as iMovie 2. I remember saying that if there were no products announced at the WWDC, Apple would have to knock our socks off in New York. This is exactly what they did.

The keynote audience was quite lucky. Apple gave a mouse to everyone of us in exchange of a special ticket that was under the seats. If you ever go to a Jobs keynote in the future, INSPECT YOUR SEAT. You never know what’s in store for you :-)

The people around the Expo are… just fine. You would expect geeky nerds with ugly clothes and thick glasses. This is not the case. You see normal humans with good taste. They are positive and a little over-excited to meet, but this is pretty much it. They are not cheerleaders, you know?

Steve Jobs and the Expo? I saw him on the show floor with lots of enthusiasts and the media following him.

One thing that is FUNNY is that many of the people who had criticized Apple for the last few months were cheerful after the keynote. It is amazing how a keynote change people's minds, especially if their criticism was not entirely based on more than feelings.

The media access is terrible, in part. There are not enough iMacs in the press room, especially at a critical moment like the few hours after the keynote. Some of us had to wait more than half an hour to get a hold of a work station. When everything goes by the second on the Net, this is an eternity!

The show floor? My first impression was not totally good. There are too many people, but I suppose this is good for the vendors. If you want to grab a representative and really discuss a product and want to ask questions… you better be quick. There are so many people that you have to wait a few minutes just to get a greeting and you will see quickly that some walk around the floor without looking and they bump you without saying "sorry." Not all of the reps are actually interested in doing more than selling. It will probably be quieter in later stages of the Expo. Then we’ll get real business done.

See you tomorrow.

MACWORLD Expo