Apple Expo, a dedicated show for Apple professionals, enthusiasts, and creatives is to hit London next year. It will run from May 24-26 2012, at Earls Court 1, London. The show will run in conjunction with the Digital Photo and Imaging Show.
IT retail industry site PCR reported that Apple Expo will look to attract Apple creative professionals and Mac enthusiasts as well as iPhone, iPad, and iPod users.
The show will take place in Earls Court, where there will be 150 exhibitors selling all types of software, accessories and services for Macs, iPads, iPhones, and iPods. However PCR understands Apple itself is not involved. This is not unusual, as the manufacturer ceased attending third-party trade shows in the UK some time ago.
The site claimed that organizer Indigo Media is expecting more than 30,000 professional, business and consumer Apple users to attend over the three days. More information is up at a site for the event, though currently this is mainly aimed at exhibitors (with some confusion in dates between the show logo and show information).
The event is set to include six presentation theatres for workshops, training and product presentations, and a 300-seat auditorium for product launches, major forums, publicity announcements and celebrity presentations. There will be special areas focusing on publishing, graphic design, photography, music, video and TV, gaming, and other featured areas to be announced.
PCR said the show will look to partner with The Gadget Show to have the presenters as celebrity guests at Apple Expo.There will also be a Mac “museum,” along with an “Expert Assistance” area and Apple-trained techies on hand.
“We’ve considered launching Apple Expo for the past few years, but we know 2012 will be the right time to stage a new show of this scale,” said Robert Peckham, show consultant for MacTechnology, which is working with Indigo Media on Apple Expo.
The last major Apple Show in the UK—MacExpo—ran for over 10 years. It was last held at Olympia in 2007, the year that Apple pulled out from exhibiting at the show. MacExpo became Creative Pro Expo for one last show the following year, but was then dissolved.
The past three years have seen swelling numbers of visitors to the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, and AppleExpo in Toronto—the only two Apple-themed Expo events that have survived since 2007.