Although Apple no longer attends the show, the annual
Macworld/iWorld convention in San Francisco carries on, with lots of vendors hawking the latest wares, presentations and courses for attendees to take in, and more often than not some well-known names in the Mac and iOS communities. Macworld
announced on Monday that the stars of the independent biopic
jOBS,
Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad, will headline a panel at the show, while rock star
Will.i.am will give a talk on technology and his latest iOS products.
Macworld/iWorld runs from January 31 to February 2 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco. Kutcher and Gad will be part of a panel called "Playing Steve & Woz" that details their experiences portraying the Apple co-founders in the forthcoming film. The film is due to
premiere at the Sundance film festival this weekend, where it will be the closing night film. Clips from the movie may be shown as part of the panel with Kutcher and Gad, who played Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak during the years just before Apple was created through to just before the introduction of the iPod in 2001.
The independently-made film will be the first major movie looking at Jobs' life, but not the last -- Sony is preparing a big-budget film focusing on Jobs' life, currently being scripted by
The Social Network's
Aaron Sorkin, but has not yet commenced shooting and is not expected for some time. Kutcher, who bears a strong resemblance to jobs when made up and costumed, won praise for his performance at a screening in Cannes. Josh Gad, who plays Wozniak, is best known for his work in
The Book of Mormon. Their session will start at 9AM local time on the main stage on Thursday, January 31.
In addition, Will.i.am -- who has recently launched an
iPhone accessory case that improves the smartphone's built-in camera -- will do a talk on the future of technology along with Intel futurist Brian David Johnson, reports
AppleInsider. Also at the convention will be
Portlandia star Fred Armisen. The convention overall will feature some 300 developers and exhibitors as well as 100 new products over the course of the three days. This is the 29th Macworld gathering, and the fifth year following Apple's separation from the event.
Apple left the convention in 2009, and said it felt under pressure to time new products until they could be announced at the convention, and also didn't feel the expense of maintaining its keynote and lead-exhibitor position was justified compared to its ability to reach customers through its retail channel. To the surprise of many, the convention
has been able to survive without its namesake sponsor by focusing on the accessory and application industries that surrounds the iPhone and iPad along with the Mac -- thus the name change to Macworld/iWorld last year.
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