This year’s Macworld | iWorld 2012 has come to a close, and the official attendance numbers show roughly 25,000 people attended (not including media and exhibitors), 10% more than in 2011. About 40% of them came for the first time, which seems to indicate the transformation of Macworld to the “ultimate iFan event” has worked in reaching a new audience.

Not just an accessory, but a revelation in iPhone usefulness, the FlyGrip is easily one of the top ten iDevice accessories of all time. A combination ergonomic gripper and kickstand, the FlyGrip ensures your smartphone adapts to your current activity, rather than you fumbling not to drop your shiny iPhone in everyday use.

Another Macworld has come and gone, this time taking a new name with it. And just as the new name implies a shift away from the Macintosh and towards Apple’s iDevices, so do our surprising finds, for the second year in a row. iOS apps and accessories dominated the show floor, three of which took us pleasantly by surprise: a video app, an art app, and some slick iPhone cases.

Attendees and media can now register for Macworld Expo 2012 in San Francisco, California, although it’s no longer just Macworld. It’s now dubbed Macworld | iWorld: The Ultimate Fan Event. Mac enthusiasts may balk at the shifted focus, but it’s a logical step forward based on the direction the event—and Apple itself—has taken over the past few years.

Compared to CES earlier in the month, the company names at Macworld, with all due respect, just aren’t as impressive. Apple’s gone. Okay. But what about Adobe, Belkin, and Altec Lansing? What about some of my smaller favorites such as Nisus, Mariner, Aspyr and Speck? Even expo stalwarts Boinx took 2011 off. Why?

My first training session Macworld Conference and Expo 2011 was in the iPad usage track with Macworld’s featured artist, Kyle Lambert. A traditionally trained artist, he has easily adapted to using computers for his art. Kyle shared with us a video that highlighted some of his digital works, and then he began to explain and show us how these were created using his Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Macworld Expo is deeper than just the expo hall or even the keynote speakers. There is also a conference that includes training sessions that are hidden gems just waiting to be discovered. There are basically two types of training: all day workshops that start the day before the expo opens, and then shorter technical or skill-enhancement sessions that are spread out over the days of the expo. In past years, I have attended the workshops and conferences where I hope you will see in this series is a genuine value to those of us who use Apple products.

One of our favorite things about Macworld are the unique items we stumble across on the show floor. Yes, we get the press releases and we see the company names on the maps, but they don’t always tell the full story. Sometimes, you just need to see the product in action or speak with a developer for it to fully click. Here are the items from Macworld Expo 2011 that caught the Appletell staff by surprise.

Macworld 2011 has come and gone, but its legacy remains here at Appletell, thanks to our video recaps. Tonight, we wrap it all up, take a look at Macworld Best of Show winner Fling from Ten 1 Design, give you a video glimpse of what it was like to be here, look forward to 2010, and listen to two of our favorite new developers sing a traditional German drinking song. See you next year.

Even if you’re from outside of the productivity space, you’ve probably heard of The Omni Group. With applications like OmniGraffle and OmniFocus, The Omni Group offers software to suit almost every productivity need you may have. And this year at Macworld, they’ve shown up big. I had the opportunity to chat with Ken Case, CEO of the Omni Group, about some of the products they’ve launched recently and how they’re doing.