It's MacWorld Expo time but will MacWorld 2009 live up to the hype and excitement of its predecessors. Macworld is the annual event that most of us are excited about as it features, with enough style and fanfare, the latest consumer products from Apple - from Macbooks to iPods to iPhones. However, several events in the recent past have cast a shadow on MacWorld 2009 leading many to ask if it will still be worth looking forward forward to. For one, the
economic downturn will temper the normally dizzying extravaganza, and some attendees are wondering if the whole technology trade show business is past its peak. For another, the man who has been at the center of this event every year will be absent for MacWorld 2009. Apple has announced early on that Steve Jobs will miss MacWorld Expo 2009 and Apple Senior V.P. of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller will be filling in. It won't be the same without Steve Jobs. His keynote address is something to look forward to every year. Furthermore, Apple has noted that this MacWorld Expo will be the Apple's last.

Apple today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.
Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.

With this triple blow that MacWorld 2009 has been dealt with, it is understandable that many are skeptical about its success this year. On the other hand, others are saying this may turn out to be Apple's biggest. Apple may just go out with a big bang this year.

Will Apple really surprise us this year by coming up with a slew of new gadgets and upgrades as a last hurrah for MacWorld 2009? As always, rumors are swirling like crazy on the web as MacWorld 2009's D-day approaches. I've always turned to Kevin Rose of Digg for some "leaks" but his blog has none this year. Instead, the following rumors have been gathered from all over the web:

Will we see a 32G iPhone launched this year? That's one of the rumors going around. We have to admit that one of the drawbacks of using this famed gadget is its low storage capabilities, and consumers have been desperately waiting for an upgrade. This rumor is further strengthened by speculation that Apple's $99 Walmart deal was designed to clear its inventory of of the older models so that the 32G iPhone can be launched. What do you think?

PC World reports that a new iMac may come out "with a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis, a new cooling system, and a 65W, quad-core chip set." This, it says, is one of the strongest speculations for MacWorld 2009 and further adds that "the new chip set is designed with Snow Leopard--the next version of OSX--in mind. The new OS is supposed to optimize multi-processor cores."

Are you ready for an iPhone Nano? This has been rumored for several months now and many thought this was the subject of another Steve Jobs announcement last year. Despite the false alarm, this rumor still hasn't died down. Many are citing a recent slip-up as the cause of further speculation that an iPhone Nano will come out. PC World explains it as such: "Vaja--a company that specializes in protective cases for mobile devices--briefly added an iPhone Nano category to its Web site, where you could pre-order a case for this non-existent Apple toy. Vaja has since erased mention of the iPhone Nano, but the slip up has put the rumor mill on overdrive. Also, iPhone Nano clones have already been spotted in Asia. I guess the knock off kings were getting too impatient and forged ahead without their inspiration."

There are other rumors going around about other products and product upgrades coming out at MacWorld 2009 but these three are so far the best of the lot. If you ask me, the third one about the iPhone Nono is the best. We'll just have to wait a few more hours to find out if it's true.

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MacWorld 2009 rumors: an iPhone nano at MacWorld Expo 2009?

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