Update: The listing showing Apple as an exhibitor has been removed.
While Apple typically chooses not to have a public presence at the big tech trade shows, the company is listed as an exhibitor for next year’s Mobile World Congress show scheduled for February (via Macrumors).
While there aren’t many clues as to what Apple might be doing there, the listing on the MWC website notes the words “App Planet Stand.” The show has a pavilion called the “App Planet Exhibition” that will feature 200 app-specific exhibitors, but it’s unclear what Apple might present at its own booth within. One possibility is a connection to Apple’s much anticipated Planet of the Apps TV show. Back in July, Apple posted an open casting call for the unscripted reality series that will explore how apps are developed.
Apple doesn’t usually attend these shows in any official or public-facing capacity, although it does often have employees checking out the competition. Apple hasn’t attended CES, as an example, since John Sculley’s keynote introduction of the Newton in 1992.
Back in 2008, Apple announced that it would no longer attend the Macworld conference, the venue where its executives often delivered keynotes addresses. At the time, the company noted that it was “reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers.”
