It shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone who’s tracked events at Macworld Conference & Expo in Tokyo, Japan for the past few years, but IDG recently made it official: Apple CEO Steve Jobs will present the keynote address at the annual event, which kicks off later this month.
Apple told MacCentral last month that the Tokyo show will not feature any new computer products. With Jobs’ attendance at the keynote assured, industry pundits have begun to wonder what he’ll focus on during his time on the Macworld Tokyo keynote stage.
Apple hasn’t yet commented on Jobs’ pending stage presence, but Macworld Tokyo show sponsor IDG Japan said that the event “will build on the great success” of January’s Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Calif. During that event, Apple unveiled the new flat-panel iMac and iPhoto, its digital photo organizer and editor. They also unveiled a 14.1-inch version of the popular iBook consumer laptop. In the intervening weeks, Apple has also revamped its Power Mac G4 systems, finally getting the clock speed of the pro computers into the gigahertz range for the first time, with a new dual-processor model. Apple announced the inclusion of Nvidia’s new GeForce4 MX graphics technology in some of the Power Mac G4 models, and even trumped Nvidia’s own announcement of its flagship GeForce4 Ti graphics chip by announcing cards based on the chip as a build-to-order option for the Power Mac G4.
This is the 12th Macworld Tokyo event. The annual gathering features dozens of conference sessions dedicated to various aspects of Mac use ranging from design and publishing, digital video, development and lots more. It will also feature special lectures given by third party software developers, special user group sessions and an exhibit hall where vendors can show off their latest products to attendees.
Macworld Tokyo happens March 21-23, 2002 at Tokyo Big Sight. The keynote address is scheduled to happen on Thursday, March 21 at 9:30 am.