Sometimes I walk the show floor at a Macworld Expo, it amazes me how quickly ideas develop and are brought to market. This week in Boston was no different.
There were some familiar faces and companies exhibiting in Boston like Harman Kardon, who won a Best of Show award for its Drive + Play iPod device. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Harman and play with the Drive + Play before the booth was crammed with attendees. I don’t think there was a time I walked by Harman Kardon’s spot on the show floor that there weren’t several people inside the Drive + Play-equipped BMW the company had on the show floor .
Companies like Harman and Software MacKiev always have really cool products to show, but there were some other companies that made their first trip to a Macworld Expo this week.
The one that stands out in my mind the most is Delapod. This company—run by a husband and wife team—saw a need in the iPod market for women’s handbags. Unlike some other products marketed to women, this product looks like a classy handbag, not a converted shoulder bag.
The designers, Joallyn Cartwright and her husband Dave, put a lot of thought into the details of having a handbag that would also be functionally useful for an iPod owner. One zipper pocket inside the handbag opens, allowing you to feed the earbuds through to the outside of the bag, while another zipper pocket opens to fit the iPod.
The iPod can be seen while in the handbag from the clear window, which is designed to be facing you instead of facing the outside where other people can see it. The main controls can also be accessed through the window, allowing you to pause, play, change playlists, and so forth.
These were just a few interesting products and people I came across at Macworld Expo Boston this past week. It reminded me, once again, that the level of competition among Mac developers and hardware suppliers is rising. And that’s bringing more innovative products to the industry—always a good thing for Macintosh and iPod users.