A Review of the 2009 Macworld Conference and Expo

Considering how bad the economy is and in spite of the absence of Steve Jobs, the 2009 Macworld Conference and Expo, held at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California was very successful. This is also in spite of the fact that Apple (AAPL) announced that it wouldn't be back next year. But that isn't the only disappearing act.

There were a couple other major companies that were conspicuous by their absence, such as Adobe (ADBE). Adobe used to be one of the anchor exhibitors at the Expo, and one of the noteworthy producers of Macintosh software. Another MIA was Sony (SNE). Does anyone remember the old Sony beige 3.5 inch floppy disks?

So who was there in place of the biggies? There were approximately 400 exhibitors and most of them were small or private or unknown businesses, more small business exhibitors than I've ever seen at any of the previous Expos. It is amazing how many companies and employees exist because of the Macintosh, the iPod, and the iPhone.

For example, one local San Francisco Bay Area computer repair shop, called techrestore.com, had a DeLorean time machine automobile on display to attract visitors. And speaking of cars, Honda Motor Company (HMC) had an Acura on display, along with a very old working Mac Plus on display. Remember those? Actually, it was a Mac Plus case that had been gutted with a more up-to-date computer installed. Honda has a P/E ratio of 14 and a yield of 3.6%.

One of the surprise exhibitors was Google (GOOG), which had displays showing Google Maps and YouTube. Google has a P/E of 19.


Other publicly traded companies that attracted a lot of people to their exhibits include Nikon (NINOY.PK) and NEC Electronics (NELTY.PK), both of which trade on the Pink Sheets, and Canon Inc. (CAJ) with a P/E of 9, and Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) with a P/E of 12 and a yield of 0.9%, both of which trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Of course, Microsoft (MSFT) was there, promoting Office 2008 for the Mac. The stock has a P/E of 10 and a yield of 2.7%.


The show also had the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus again this year, which is a non-profit mobile recording studio that travels to schools across the company. Overall, the show and the exhibits were well received. Let's hope the Macworld Expo is repeated in the future, and let's hope Apple continues to be successful, since many people and many small companies rely on its success.

By the way, if you had followed the MacWorld Expo Apple Stock Correlation, it would have worked. I wrote about this back on October 28, and each year prior to that for several years. You would have made a profit of 2.7% in less than two months, buying Apple at 88.14 on November 17 and selling on January 9 at 90.58.

Disclosure: Author owns AAPL and MSFT.

Comments

[Jonathan Scott:]

you start with: "the 2009 Macworld Conference and Expo...was very successful."

you end with: "Let's hope the Macworld Expo is repeated in the future, and let's hope Apple continues to be successful."

Not too long ago your ending comments would not have been dreamed of, to say nothing of put in writing. It has the ring of success is not longer clearly visible. it's as if your subject has lost its mojo.

Jan 11 12:53 PM

[brewer:]

Good riddance to MacWorld Expo. It was a MAJOR DRAIN on the company.

Next year, Apple will probably exhibit at CES, and blow those clowns away from within their own, pathetic conference.

The entire PC industry has been leeching off of Apple since the beginning. I think it's a great idea to take this stock manipulation out of the picture.

You think you were enlightening anyone with advise about the MacWorld run up? I thought everyone knew about that.

Jan 12 10:19 AM

[mollytjm:]

while the tech expos are always enjoyable, having to time your product line to the date of one is not. january... what a dumb idea. but at this point, Apple doesn't need that kind of format anymore even if the date was better. One nice thing..we got to see more of the other stars at Apple and that was good. It's time people realize that Apple is huge and LOTS of talent.

Jan 12 12:15 PM

[BerkeleyBob:]

I was also struck by the number of small vendors and an absence of large resellers or bargains in new must haves. No gaming pavilion; maybe the game publishers don't think Mac owners play games any more. I got an invitation to attend the 2010 Mac World for free, but although I saw a few exhibitors worth following up on and bought a newish stock tracking program, doubt I will attend in the future. I don't want to use a technical term, but what I saw was a depressing number of tschotkes. I have attended something like 4 or 5 Mac Worlds, and have spent significant amounts of money there in the past.

Jan 12 01:11 PM

[Computer Re...:]

Computer repair is a service everyone needs at some point. Thanks for posting this!

Apr 17 09:01 PM

[Just Solutions:]

Thanks for the recap of macworld. I didn't go this year and not to sad that I didn't make it. Steve Jobs is going to be forever missed when he dies :(

May 17 10:20 PM