50,000 expected at Macworld Expo in SF

Those going to the upcoming Macworld Expo in San Francisco can expect a much larger show this year, with nearly 50,000 registered attendees, and over 450 vendors are making a presence at the show. Paul Kent, Vice President of the Macworld Expo, told MacNN today that the 2008 event will dwarf previous years, with an estimated 25-percent increase in floor traffic, and an18-percent increase in vendor attendance. As of today, MacWorld Expo will feature 453 vendors, 48 of which are new and taking up residence in the year-old Developer's Pavilion.

"Macworld is rockin', I mean the attendance is up dramatically over last year," said Kent. "We had about 40,000 attendees last year, we're looking at going towards 50,000. The whole Mac market is rockin' right now, and Macworld is a mirror of that, so if people really want to get the experience of the great community that gathers at Macworld, and...all of the events that go on, and making new friends, and talking to other people about great technology, and always seeing great technology first, that's probably the hallmark of Macworld."'

Many new products are expected to make their debut at Macworld, from both Apple and third party companies. Forbes recently announced its expectations for the coming show, from an ultra-portable sub-notebook, and a visual tablet, to a new iPhone or iPhone "nano".

Microsoft is expected to unveil Office 2008 for the Mac, representing the first Universal version of its office productivity software. The upcoming version has dozens of new features, as well as an enhanced user interface.

Filemaker is readying the final v1.0 release of Bento, its new personal database application designed for home users and small businesses, featuring drag-and-drop functionality, with no programming experience required. With users downloading over 100,000 copies of the software, Bento is looking to be a hot item at Macworld.

Check back soon for additional Macworld coverage.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: Macworld Expo, MWSF, IDG