Can Macworld Expo 2010 really “Rock the New Era?”

It’s just after 9:00 a.m., and Steve Jobs has just taken the stage at Macworld Expo 2010. Except that he hasn’t. David Pogue has. As you all know, Steve Jobs and Apple aren’t here, Now, we all love David Pogue. In fact, I’d wager he’s more liked and well-respected than Jobs, but no matter how fantastic his presentation is, it won’t feature any new software and hardware. There will be no groundbreaking announcements. Nothing to set the Apple community buzzing. Of course, that also means there’s no potential for a letdown.

This is the “new era” about which IDG and Macworld are speaking. An era without Apple. Without the glamour and energy of a Steve Jobs keynote. It’s certainly been different thus far, and the show floor hasn’t even opened yet. In previous years, the bigger companies (Apple included) were all located in Moscone South. This year, it’s not even open.

Things have been more casual with the media, too, which I attribute to the lack of competition for keynote seats. There was a decent line outside for expo attendees, but there couldn’t have been more than 50 members of the press lined up for the exclusive access. Also, the representation has been largely U.S. Not a lot of foreign writers coming into San Francisco this year to cover the event.

But who cares about the media, right? Macworld Expo is here for the vendors and the users, and that’s where the focus has been. The North Hall seems to be fairly well filled up, and we’ll know that for sure once we get in later this morning. The question is, will there be any energy there? Will the products they’re bringing get people excited? Will there be enough attendees to carry this excitement throughout the show and outside the Moscone?

And will they want to talk about the iPad?

I hope so, because if there’s one thing that’s apparent here today, it’s that those who are continuing to come on day one of the expo still love it. Still want it around. And quite honestly, when it comes to discovering new devices and apps, I’m more excited about this show than any other I’ve attended. Without Apple, Adobe and such to demand my time, I’m free to dig deeper. To attend more press conferences. Within a few hours I’ll know how that pans out.

But right now, I just know that the opening keynote is going on, and I’m sitting in the media room contemplating the validity of Macworld Expo while Ed McKell and Bill Stiteler from Appletell are attending Pogue’s presentation. I can hear plenty of music and laughter and applause, but does that mean this new era will, in fact, rock? That, I won’t know until Saturday evening.