Micro Macworld, major goals

Steve Jobs made clear a long time ago his Apple Computer Corp. wasn't showing up at the Macworld Conference & Expo when it moves from New York to Boston next month. Maybe Bill Gates wasn't happy with the change either.

Dozens of former exhibitors, including software giant Microsoft Corp., will be absent from what was once the granddaddy of technology trade shows on the East Coast. Macworld, which will return to Boston in July after an eight-year absence, has attracted 50 exhibitors so far, compared to 131 last year. Organizers said they expect the number of exhibitors to reach as many as 80 before the convention starts July 12, still 39 percent fewer than last year.

Among the previous exhibitors who aren't on the list for Boston are Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and many others that have significant sales to the Apple community. Macworld's organizers and some exhibitors who are attending acknowledged yesterday that moving the convention reduced its appeal for many of the companies that helped make the event a must-attend for Macintosh enthusiasts through much of the 1990s.

But executives at IDG World Expo, the Framingham company that owns and plans Macworld, contend that a host of new interactive exhibits will still satisfy the expectations of attendees. Despite having fewer vendors, IDG expects the Boston Macworld to be a success.

''The event is not only the number of exhibitors. This show has been built for the community, the Macintosh community, not just the vendors," said Warwick Davies, an IDG World group vice president.

''There's going to be so much to do, probably three to four times the amount of things that we've put on the show floor in the past, and that will get people wanting to be on the show floor for several days."

Macworld's organizers have faced doubts about the change of venue since 2002, when they announced that the convention would leave the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Apparently peeved at the decision, Apple, which makes Macintosh computers and whose charismatic chief executive, Jobs, used to headline Macworld, announced it would not have any presence at a Boston Macworld.

Microsoft, long a Macworld exhibitor, said in a statement this week that it is definitely not participating in this year's convention but that it will monitor the Boston event's success to determine whether it will participate in the future.

''We have other ways to reach our customers," said Shannon Mapp, a spokeswoman for Microsoft's Macintosh business unit, when asked why the company is not participating this year.

IDG hosts another annual Macworld in San Francisco, which still enjoys popularity among big software companies.

''Our major investment is in Macworld San Francisco in January," said Russell Brady, a spokesman for software maker Adobe Systems Inc. Adobe stopped exhibiting at the East Coast Macworld several years ago, he said.

''The market has decided that that show was the more popular one. Apple themselves had seemed to use that show a lot more for bigger announcements."

The East Coast Macworld has been losing steam since its heyday in the late 1990s. An estimated 40,000 people attended last year, compared with 55,000 in 1996, the last year it was held in Boston. Davies said yesterday that IDG World expects 10,000 attendees this year. The smaller number, he said, will reflect a more accurate count because in previous years, IDG simply tallied the number of times people passed through turnstiles to enter the convention, allowing some attendees to be double or triple counted.

This year the firm plans to have the attendance audited by an outside firm, he said.

The success of Macworld will be watched closely, not only because of the venue change but because it is the first major convention slated for the recently completed $800 million Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in South Boston. City officials negotiated for months to land Macworld, and IDG is not being charged for use of the convention center.

James Rooney, executive director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, said a leaner Macworld actually gave his organization the opportunity to show the new convention center's versatility.

Because Macworld is smaller, the convention authority was able to book a second convention to be held simultaneously.

''Right out of the gate that demonstrates what we've been saying about the building in terms of size and flexibility," Rooney said. ''We're having two significant events to open this building. In terms of a grand entrance into the marketplace, being able to that is a great thing."

Rooney also suggested that it was the previous decision to move Macworld to New York, not back to Boston, that reduced enthusiasm.

''It was born in Boston, it grew in Boston, and then it went to New York and something happened. I don't know exactly what it was that happened in New York, but it's coming back a smaller show that we want to work with IDG to grow again."

Moving to Boston hasn't dampened every exhibitor's enthusiasm. Executives at some of this year's presenters said the convention is still a good opportunity to generate business, even if it's from a smaller pool of customers.

''We realize this one is going to be smaller, and we think it's going to be worth it," said Sara Winge, a spokeswoman for O'Reilly Media Inc., a Sebastopol, Calif., publisher of technology books.

''The Macworlds that we go to have always been a very good selling audience for us."

Chris Kraft, vice president of marketing for software maker Sophos Inc., said New York was probably a better site, but his company still expects to generate the 150 sales leads that it wants from this convention.

Sophos makes anti-spam and anti-virus software for schools, a market that tends to be dominated by Macintosh products, and business customers.

''Certainly, from the early indicators, it would look as though the placement in Boston was not as attractive as it was in Javits," he said. ''I think New York is probably a better place to be, but whether the venue could maintain viability and profitability in New York is a different question."

Quark, probably the best-known software brand on the exhibitor list this year, ironically has not had a Macworld presence in almost a decade, said Glen Turpin, a spokesman.

The company is back this year because of a renewed focus on marketing.

''It actually is an interesting decision for us," Turpin said. ''Even though it's a smaller show than it's been in the past, it's one of the first opportunities we've had this year to get in front of a lot of people."

Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com.