See you in Apple Expo 2006

Apple Expo 2005 ended up last Saturday evening on a very festive tone, where many "pops" from bottles of Champagne could be heard.
And as opposed to what we'd feared, though we don't have any frequentation figures yet, the expo seemed to atttract crowds.
After an initial impression it is a "skin expo" you visit, given the many accessories for iPod from all sorts, you might realize the real rich contents of the event.
Of course, apart from the iPod nano which met a great success, there weren't any new producs from Apple. Yet despite, or perhaps thanks to that, visitors weren't only gathering on the Apple stand, and really took their time to visit the whole expo.
- Hardware sellers we've asked, and that particularly feared the lack of new products, told us sales volumes they'd made had been increasing as compared to the preceding year.
- Developers and professionnal solutions sellers were also glad of the contacts they'd taken.
- The really unhappy ones, if there were, might have the iPod mini skins sellers that only had products for EOL line and could do nothing but promise a new, upcoming line for the nano.
Tuesday at 11, as it is the case in every opening, there were huge crowds waiting to exchange an electronic badge for an entry badge. If this solution could save the organization some savings, it was not really the part people liked in this expo... Same problem on Saturday were affluence seems to have broken records. Many visitors from far told us they'd delayed their visit to Paris as there were no new products, but finally came to find good deals.
To finish with the exhibition, some thanks.
- To our friends from the Pommier ("appletree") that we're so glad to meet every year in this European Mac party
- To our many readers that came to meet the true people they're reading every day
- To the organization for letting us have a stand
And finally, of course to Apple. Let's emphasize that despite tensions that may have occurred with them, they fully accepted us on the expo, giving us both the "press" and VIP visas. Of course, some individuals will always try and demonish us for publishing reports of their failures or lacks, yet we're all going the same way, that is to promote the adoption of the Mac to the public. Of course, a full official acknowledgement, which we don't expect anyway, is not in order, yet we'll try in the months to come to get closer contacts which would allow us help solve problems without requiring shouting in public on Macbidouille/ hardmac.
Rendez-vous on Apple Expo 2006, anyway, that's due to be a great event, with the first MacIntel arriving.