Expo isn't just a big Apple booth, you know

Macworld Expo is the premier showcase for third-party companies who develop products for Apple's markets. And yet every year, those same companies schlep out to San Francisco to announce their next big products--and find their announcements completely washed away by whatever Steve Jobs announced on Tuesday morning. Completely washed away. Every company I've met in advance of Expo, I've implored to announce their product before Jobs gets on stage, because after that announcement everything else gets lost.

Apple's booth at Expo is great, too, but it really is just a giant Apple Store. All the other booths at the show contain products you might never otherwise get a chance to see. The third-party community around Apple is vibrant and exciting and doesn't get enough face time with people because Apple's the bright, shiny object glowing at the center of Moscone's South Hall. With Apple out of the picture, Macworld Expo might actually be a better show. Theoretically.

Dream the impossible dream

My impossible dream is that sometime in the next year, Apple will agree to appear at Macworld Expo 2010 in a dramatically reduced fashion, perhaps with a reduced booth presence and no keynote address. If that happens, perhaps Macworld Expo as we know it today can survive.