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IDG to Replace Macworld with 'Create'


“Macworld New York”? Forget that — East Coast Macworlds are SO last year. Yes, the long saga of wrangling between Macworld Expo organizer IDG and Cupertino seems to have come to an end. IDG Vice President Colin Crawford announced yesterday that July 14-18, 2003, on the same dates originally slated for Macworld New York, IDG will instead offer Create, “an event which addresses the increasingly tech-savvy community of artists, designers, directors, and musicians.” And Apple has evidently given its blessing as a “co-presenter.” The event is to be a “learning and networking” experience. Sounds cool, but this means moving Macworld in a very different direction. Creative artists have been mostly on the sidelines in previous Expos, in attendance but hardly the focus of what is still at its heart a trade show and networking event for the Mac community, not the creative community. The coolest events were things like U&I Software’s San Francisco parties, which pumped out music and video generated by its software. Will IDG be able to deliver on its promise?

A closer look reveals a slightly scaled-down Macworld with a bit more focus. Workshops, according to CNET News.com, will cover topics ranging from QuarkXPress to home music editing. The event may attract people who miss the now-cancelled East Coast Seybold Seminars show. Exhibitors are down to about 150 from 250. And there will likely be no Steve Jobs keynote (althogh don’t write off the Stevenote yet, since we know his Steveness can be full of surprises). Let’s hope IDG finds a way to beef up its “creative” offerings to fill the void. And, by the way, what does this mean for the return of Macworld Boston that started this whole fight in the first place? Create will be offered in New York at Javits this summer, and Manhattan seems like the only logical venue for creative pros. Create Boston sounds like a flop: New York directors, musicians, and designers on deadline would be extremely unlikely to hop Amtrak for an Expo. The Expo soap opera may have a few more episodes left.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.