Thursday was doors open at Macworld|iWorld 2013. We grabbed some quick breakfast at La Boulange. Not only did the French-ish name remind me of Montreal, but they have a unique french toast that's part bread pudding, part custard, part conventional french toast, and all around delicious. Perfect fuel for a long day of trade-showing.
The event started off with Ashton Kutcher, who plays Steve Jobs in the indie Jobs (no longer jOBS, thank goodness) movie. Based on the clips I've seen Kutcher does a good job impersonating Jobs in the movie, but the scenes don't seem to mesh with anything approaching reality (Jobs explaining to Woz what a computer is, is particularly odd.) Hopefully the "official" movie Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, the Newsroom, The Social Network, A Few Good Men) will be better. Much better.
The show floor itself lit up at 10am. Inside are a collection of booths, with a ton of "tiny town" Apapalooza mini booths on the right, for everyone from established players like 1Password, Smile, and Ecamm to brand new apps and games. The bigger section in the center and left has a mix of accessory makers, like you find at CES, and larger app booths, like Readle's.
Upstairs is the Macworld Live stage, where Dan Moren of Macworld kicked things off with a panel called "A Word from the Developers" that included Guy English, Paul Kafasis, and Rob Rhyne and covered the realities of making, pricing, selling, and supporting apps both in and out of the Mac App Store.
There are also more, and more specific booths upstairs, including an iPhoneogrpahy area, Adobe, and more, and all the rooms for the various sessions.
I participated in a session at 1pm clalled "Things To Fear: Has Apple Forgotten Power Users?" It was hosted by Macworld's Lex Friedman, with John Gruber, Paul Kafasis, and Matthew Panzarino. We talked about Apple's move to make the Mac more like iOS, and whether that was just to aid in making the desktop consistent with mobile, and accessible to more mainstream people, or whether it would also become more locked down and less open to apps that try to provide deeper access and more "expert user" functionality.
Gruber, Panzarino, and I were optimistic. Personally, I think rather than Apple abandoning power users, they're trying to empower mainstream users. My mom could never be a "power user" on a Mac, but she can do things with an iPad she never could with a Mac before.
Kafasis hoped our optimism would pan out, but as a developer who's had his apps rejected due to the capricious nature and limitations of the App Store, he was a worried as well. That concerns me. If developers like Kafasis can't make the audacious apps they want on iOS, they may eventually go elsewhere. And I want them not to go elsewhere.
The day ended with Lex and Dave Wiskus hosting Amy Jane Gruber for a live episode of their [Unprofessional]http://www.muleradio.net/unprofessional/() podcast. Amy tried very hard not to swear, Lex tried very hard not to get fired, and Dave tried not to enjoy both those things too much.
Martin and I got a bunch of videos from the show floor throughout the day. Sadly, the internet in and around here isn't great, so it might be a while until we get them posted. The evening was spent meeting up with some of the amazing developers and designers who live in the area, or who are also visiting for Macworld|iWorld, and likely far too many adult beverages for those of us who have to get up and get back to covering the show in the morning.
We're on our way back now, and we'll keep shooting and bringing you back the best of Macworld|iWorld 2013!
