Add Apple Expo to the list of trade shows that Apple is not participating in. The company has confirmed that it will not attend this year’s Apple Expo in Paris, France, which happens from September 17 – 20 2008.
“Apple is participating in fewer trade shows every year, because often there are better ways for us to reach our customers,” an Apple spokesman told Macworld.
The statement is exactly the same as what Apple said this past February when it confirmed it wouldn’t attend the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) event in Las Vegas — an annual trade show focused on the professional video market.
Apple has gradually reduced its participation in trade shows over several years — perhaps most famously with Apple’s pullout of the east coast Macworld Expo when IDG World Expo changed the venue from New York to Boston in 2003.
Apple continues to invest in new brick-and-mortar retail stores around the world, and as Apple’s retail stores have met with success, the company sees trade shows as having diminished relevance: During Apple’s quarterly calls with financial analysts, Apple executives have often noted the aggregate foot traffic at its retail stores as considerably greater than the attendance of events like Macworld Expo.
Apple has also augmented its trade show appearances with occasional special events at or near its Cupertino, Calif. headquarters that Apple controls entirely. Apple’s unveiling of an iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) earlier this year is one such example.
Apple Expo is an annual trade show that occurs at the Porte de Versailles venue in Paris, France. Managed by Reed Exhibitions, Apple Expo has been Europe’s premier Apple-specific trade show, gathering Apple, Macintosh and iPod hardware, software and accessory vendors all under one roof. The event features an exhibit hall as well as a series of related events and activities.
Steve Jobs presents the keynote address to major Apple events like January’s Macworld Expo in San Francisco and next week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, but he hasn’t been seen at Apple Expo since 2003, when he introduced new PowerBook G4 systems. The following year, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, took Jobs’ place on the keynote stage to introduce the iMac G5 — since then, Apple Expo hasn’t had a keynote as such.
No official comment from Reed Exhibitions was available as Macworld posted this article.