Apple Plans Expo Double-Header

For Apple Computer Inc.s next trick, the company this week will attempt to be in two places at once—on two separate continents.

Mimicking the dual-processor performance of its latest professional desktop systems, the Mac maker has secured leading roles at two major trade shows on either side of the Atlantic.

On Tuesday (at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time), Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller will kick off Seybold San Francisco, the annual West Coast edition of the publishing show. Also on Tuesday (at 10 a.m. Central Europe Time), Apple CEO Steve Jobs himself will keynote Apple Expo in Paris. Neither event will be Webcast, according to event organizers.

The two trade shows stake out two market segments as widely disparate as their home cities. Seybold is the traditional bailiwick of professional publishing users, who remain Apples hardest core; Apple Expo (anointed in recent years as the high point of Apples European exhibit calendar) is primarily a magnet for the consumers who have comprised Apples biggest target since the advent of the iMac.

In 2001, the companys plan to showcase its wares simultaneously at Seybold and Apple Expo was derailed by the Sept. 11 terror attacks; citing security concerns, Apple canceled the Parisian show, and Jobs instead joined Schiller at the Seybold keynote presentation.

Before last years events, Jobs took the unusual step of cautioning that the Cupertino, Calif., company wouldnt be introducing any new hardware that week. Sources predicted that Apple would follow suit at this years shows: With the possible exception of a couple of new software utilities, Apple will apparently eschew product releases in favor of demonstrating recent releases such as its dual-processor Power Macs, 17-inch iMac, rack-mounted Xserve server and newly released Jaguar (a k a Mac OS X 10.2) to the pro-publishing and European markets.

On the third-party front, sources close to Quark Inc. told eWEEK that the Denver, Colo., developer of publishing software was considering a surprise demonstration at Apple Expo of QuarkXPress 6; Apple has reportedly been working closely with Quark to accelerate development of the long-awaited Mac OS X-native version of Quarks flagship publishing package.

However, Quark Communications Manager Glen Turpin vigorously denied the report: “Quark is not sending any employees to Apple Expo in Paris,” he said, “and to my knowledge, no Quark software will be demonstrated there.”

Quark does not have a booth at Seybold, either, Turpin said, although some Quark staffers will be demonstrating the companys publishing-workflow technologies at the booth of Modulo Systems of Cambridge, Mass.

The other focus of Mac-related pre-show buzz: reports that Apple will use Apple Expo to introduce the first international editions of its retail outlets. Apple representatives were not immediately available to comment on the retail reports.

The Seybold San Francisco conference runs from Sept. 9-12 at Moscone Center. It also features a presentation by Shantanu Narayen, executive vice president of worldwide product marketing and development with Adobe Systems, and sessions on PDF publishing and content management. Apple Expo runs Sept. 10-14 in Paris Porte de Versailles.