Reed Exhibitions Cans Apple Expo Paris 2009

A few hours after Apple surprisingly announced that next year's Mac Expo would be its lasst, Reed Exhibitions has announced that it will not be holding Apple Expo Paris next year.

Apple chose not to attend the last edition which took place in September 2008 and attracted more than 90 exhibitors including Microsoft, Epson and Kensington.

The company argued that it was big enough to bypass trade shows altogether and use its high street brick and mortar presence to attract people.

Attendance at Trade shows has decreased significantly and Apple Expo attracted merely 54,000 people last year, providing the proof that a fundamental shift in the way Apple interacts with its stakeholders is happening.

In July, IDG decided to can the summer Macworld Expo but vowed to keep the remaining Mac Expo (the one held in January) going. Interestingly, the news about Reed cancelling Apple Expo Paris was broken by IDG owned Macworld.com.

At the time of writing, Apple shares have slumped by nearly 6.9 percent to $88.88. Shares of Reed Elsevier were unaffected by the announcement.

Go To Page 2 for our comments and more related links