San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
WHAT FIRST MACWORLD UNLEASHED
Even Steve Jobs was a noshow, yet modest expo in ’85 was a hit with fans
The first big Apple computer convention was introduced to San Franciscans with a $5 off clipandsave coupon. There was no online registration — only cash or checks, and “no credit cards accepted.”
But despite the analog vibe of the first Macworld Expo in 1985, there were signs of the revolution to come. The trade show and conference that launched on the weekend of Feb. 2123, 1985, would become a giant before its end in 2014, and precursor to massive companyfocused conventions such as Dreamforce and Oracle Open World. And the organizers, in their bombastic text, if anything undersold the importance of their debut event.
“If you’re a human being, then you’re a candidate for Macworld Expo,” a Feb. 7 advertisement in The San Francisco Chronicle stated. “It’s the perfect way to learn everything you can about this amazing little computer — and the expanding world of computer technology!”
The first Macworld was too small for Moscone Center. Instead, it premiered at Brooks Hall, a secondtier convention space sandwiched between a subterranean City Hall parking garage and Civic Center Plaza. The space began hosting the West Coast Computer Faire in 1977.
The Macintosh was indeed revolutionary when it debuted in 1984; with an iconfilled screen, it was the first massmarket computer to use a mouse. But it was not instantly profitable, was expensive (more than $2,700 for a computer, printer and external drive, according to one Chronicle advertisement) and received a negative review in The Chronicle.
So the thousands of paid attendees at the threeday exposition were a good sign for the future, a loyal following for the company to build on.
“Thousands of Macintosh fans are flocking to the threeday Macworld Exposition at Brooks Hall that ends today to see the latest software and accessories for the personal computer,” Chronicle tech writer John Eckhouse wrote on Feb. 23, 1985. “Although the shortage of software has plagued the Macintosh since its introduction 13 months ago, a large number of the 100 exhibitors at the show introduced new Mac programs ranging from games to business graphics.”
The centerpiece was an 11foot working model of a Macintosh computer that could display software like the new Jazz program from Lotus Development Corp. In addition to exhibitors, Apple placed 27 computers on the floor for attendees to engage with; now common in every Apple Store the display was innovative for the time. “Unlike many computer shows, Macworld offered ‘handson’ experience,” Eckhouse wrote. “The show’s sponsors set up three booths where they encouraged people to touch and play … without a heavy sales pitch.”
Beyond the toolshedsize computer on the floor, the photos by The Chronicle’s Steve Ringman are striking for how routine they look. Unlike the highbudget revivallike Apple conventions and product debuts to come, the first Macworld could have been a ham radio convention at the Red Lion Inn. Macintosh enthusiasts walk by with bags bearing the oldschool sixcolor Apple logo, while one youngster wears a Prince “Purple Rain” Tshirt. (The artist would play five nights at the Cow Palace beginning the next weekend.)
While the geeky masses milled around with their lanyards pricing conversion kits and video games, Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was in town … seemingly everywhere except Macworld. The Chronicle reported that Jobs celebrated his 30th birthday that week at the St. Francis Hotel, hiring members of the S.F. Symphony and Ella Fitzgerald to sing “Happy Birthday.”
Chronicle columnist Herb Caen attended a dinner party with Jobs and his friend “Tina” on the first night of the Expo at Sutter 500, prepared by chef Hubert Keller.
“Dinner music was by a chirpy Macintosh playing a duet with a live clarinetist,” Caen wrote the following week. “Guest of honor: Steven Jobs, Apple’s chairman and rock star of the computer world, who ate with one hand and cuddled a blond nymphet with the other.” Macworld founder David Bunnell would write about the same event, in a 2008 Chronicle opinion article.
“Jobs had no idea who Caen was, much less the tremendous clout he had with hundreds of thousands of Bay Area readers, who religiously read his daily columns,” Bunnell wrote. “One mention in one of Herb’s threedot columns could make or break your social life, or even your career. So, I introduced Jobs to Caen. Caen said, ‘It’s a great pleasure to meet you at last,’ and Jobs’ only reply was, ‘How come The Chronicle is such a bad newspaper?’ ”
Gossip aside, Bunnell, who died in 2016, suggested that the first Macworld had helped save Apple.
“Jobs may have been camping out with Tina, but the other Apple folks were at the Expo, listening to their customers,” Bunnell said “When they left, they had a renewed sense of urgency.”
Jobs was already being sidelined by Apple CEO John Sculley, and would resign from Apple in September. Jobs attended his first Macworld in San Francisco in January 1997, upon his return to the company. By then, Macworld was a multicity event, with annual January stops in San Francisco’s Moscone Center. (Brooks Hall is currently used by the city for storage.) The last Macworld was in March 2014.
By the mid2000s, more than 50,000 people attended the event — enough to fill Stanford’s football stadium — and on Jan. 9, 2007, Jobs made history at Macworld in San Francisco, unveiling the first iPhone.