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Those 600 were probably stuck on the east coast because of the storm - I was one of them!

Good point. Without the storm, maybe there would have been more people than when Apple was exhibiting!

nice speaker bag! I don't feel compelled to write this, but, so...seriously... arghh! I won't get into attendee metrics, which I know something about and, well, never mind. we will pretend they really were what they claimed. but with this level of exhibitors, this show is not sustainable. it's a diehard because of local user support (all shows are local, but there is a reason MacWorld is not in Boston) - but now that every company has an IT infrastructure and not starting from scratch, needs are incremental. large horizontal shows are dead. smaller, vertical, hyper- focused shows are what are needed, and until we all need to start from scratch again and rebuild our businesses on something fundamentally new and necessary, that's where we'll stay. (hey - how cool to have sold telephones when nobody in the world had one yet? or pc's? once in a generation opportunities!) remember "internet world"? as soon as I heard that name I cracked-up and, at a tech event, said that will sound as interesting as "electricity world" in a few years. the internet was, is, and will always be a utility. just as we didn't need a giant show about everything on earth that could use electricity, or bandwidth, we don't need one about everything that can run on a single platform. especially as the platforms are merging and, *almost*, becoming indistinguishable so far as strategic advantage. (go ahead, bring it on...) apple is great at industrial design, bad at efficiency. great at marketing, laughable at customer service. their footprint now is consumer electronics, and, good for them, so far some good stuff. but a show that attracts 100k? naw, not without the star power. but mostly not without the exhibitors, who can't afford the puffery anymore based on their event ROI. almost everything apple does is based upon a crazy self-image; hubris; and, right to a customer’s face, smugness. but they're not at MacWorld because, well, from a business perspective, why should they be? you know, I walked through and was really sad. but it's going the way of Comdex and blah and blah...nice ride, though. and I wish all involved the best of luck! peace.

keepingIT real - I'm not sure I understood your point... I've never been to MacWorld but as I understand it it's always been the best place for Mac Software developers to show off their wares at a consolidated event. If only 600 fewer people showed up to an event that also used to feature Steve Jobs headlining, that's a pretty big feat. The floor still looks busy enough that the software developers are getting the foot traffic they need.

So my point is -- it would be interesting to hear what the exhibitors themselves think of the success of the event. Because the Mac doesn't have its own App Store yet to help market Mac OS products.

I thought MacWorld 2010 looked really depressing without all the big colorful Apple banners. You could hardly tell there is MacWorld going on standing in the streets near Moscone or anywhere else in the city. I missed all the Colorful ads prior to the event.

no hard felings, bill grant, but with magic, it's smoke and mirrors. with tradeshows, it's curtains, drapes and partitioned rooms. you give the illusion of traffic by reducing the space. and even with that, as katy zee said "depressing". especially relative to it's past. i'm guessing half of the available space was empty. more ipod cases then serious solutions. plus, you can't really judge software in a tradeshow enviornment anyway. but you *can* re-inforce your brand. and you can network. *when* you have the budget and there are enough buyers (corporate, not enthusiasts) to justify the expense. all i'm saying is, face to face marketing is evolving. there will b plenty of opportunities to network and train and sell, but it will be more vertically oriented. i'm tempted to add that, possibly, the very evangelical nature of apple enthusiasts have hastened this change for macworld. they are already sold. but...it's industry-wide. the concept of these events will scale appropriately - no worries!