Next week’s Macworld Expo seems set to be the best-attended in years, with show organisers, IDG World Expo, confirming a 28 per cent increase in pre-event registrations compared to last year’s event.
The show will hold 400 exhibitors and see hundreds of new product launches, the organisers said. They also promise an extensive selection of conference and seminar sessions.
Major exhibitors include the biggest names in tech, such as Adobe, Canon, Epson, FileMaker, HP, Microsoft, Nikon, Quark, Xerox and many others.
Additional treats at the event will include feature presentations from such luminaries as: actor, writer and film producer Kevin Smith; photographer and digital photography pioneer Joel Meyerowitz; and New York Times technology columnist David Pogue.
The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus: a unique non-profit, state-of-the-art mobile recording and multimedia studio will be at the show to explain how digital technologies can be used in music making.
Berklee College of Music will also be there to present its Dream Studio, a state-of-the-art music studio based on Apple hardware and software.
A wide variety of seminars in most popular Mac applications, and a series of symposiums focused on the needs of small business have also been scheduled, IDG World Expo said.
The event begins on 8 January and runs until 12 January. Apple CEO Steve Jobs will deliver his keynote speech at 9am (6pm, UK time) on 9 January. Unusually, the keynote is scheduled to last two hours, rather than the more customary one hour and a half.