MacWorld 2013 Recap

Last week I was fortunate enough to attend MacWorld in person for GroundReport.

It was an incredible experience. For the first time (outside of the gdgt event) that I got to sit alongside fellow Apple bloggers and write articles. There is something surreal about reading an article on an event you were at and seeing that person’s unique perspective. While we weren’t “official” enough to qualify for a media pass (which is BS but that’s another story), I had an “iFan” pass which got me into sessions and main stage events. Like the (free) Expo Pass, it also granted me access to the show floor. I was there for a day and a half and it was crazy the entire time.

Thursday was the only full day I could attend and ironically that was the day when barely anything went right. From having to buy an iFan pass (my error), to paying for internet on 2 devices and ending up not using one (looking at you, Cr-48), to blog posting errors and myself getting turned around in San Francisco– it was quite a stressful day as a blogger. But it was also a very good learning experience as stuff I prepared for (like lack of battery power and mobile picture uploading) thankfully turned out to be a non-issue.

I won’t go over the speakers on the main stage in detail here- you can find those articles here. What I did find interesting is related to the Expo Floor:
1. Lack of “Booth Babes”
2. VIP’s on the show floor (which doesn’t always happen during hours of the public)
3. Extremely wide variety of products/services on the show floor (from a bow for games to a whole “app showcase” area)

All of these things I find to be good things that MacWorld needs to survive. The conference is really struggling to find a true purpose as it’s trying to be a “Dreamforce”-like conference without the support needed from Apple. Not to say that Apple wasn’t present (they were) but MacWorld could be so much more than a lame trade show. Yes, it’s a place to unveil new Apple related products but Apple’s new (uncertain) release “schedule” is beginning to strain the purpose of a trade show. What if I’m hawking wares that will be basically irrelevant by the time they hit US shores?

However, it was a great time to see some of the new/upcoming stuff in person (as opposed to reading it on a blog). Blogging it for GroundReport was even cooler. You will see in a post later this week that something awesome happened to me post show (and I now have an unofficial streak going).

Stay tuned.