In the Expo of the future, sans Apple, I fear such meetings are all but done; the attendees at such a show won’t come from all over the globe, and to even draw from around the country, there will need to be some very compelling reasons for people to fly in. Without Apple, it’s hard to imagine far-flung attendees and developers finding enough reasons to attend and/or exhibit, given the costs involved. Time will tell, of course, but it seems that my annual chance to catch up with some of my electronic acquaintances in real life has now passed.

The other group that will really feel the impact of Apple’s announcement are small developers. As a small developer, exhibiting at Expo presented the opportunity for great success. Sure, you needed to have an excellent product with an eye-catching booth to grab some attendee attention…but if you had that, you could find your product taking off in a big way, as the 50,000-plus attendees who had the chance to try out your product at Expo flew home and spread the word of your greatness. We’ll see that in the upcoming Expo, of course, with those who've already made their plans for the event.

Looking forward to 2010, though, I think many developers (large and small) will be hesitant to spend the money to exhibit, knowing that Apple—and the crowds and publicity it brings to the show—won’t be there. So while Macworld Expo was really the one annual chance for small developers to make a name for themselves with an excellent product, I think 2009 is the end of the road for that opportunity.

For the developers, and for myself and my fellow members of the Mac community, I really hope that Macworld Expo finds a way to survive and thrive in the post-Apple era. I’d love to have a must-go reason to attend Macworld Expo 2010, knowing the all the developers will be there with their cool products, and my friends will be there for the conference and to see said developers.

Unfortunately, it seems to me that Macworld Expo is now like a mall that’s lost its large anchor tenant. While the mall may continue to operate for some period of time, the number of shoppers will decline, smaller retailers will fold up shop, and—eventually—the mall will close with a whimper, leaving people only with memories of what used to be. I hope that’s not the future for Macworld Expo, but I fear that it is.