If Apple declines to appear at your Mac-centric trade show, the next best thing is to get the actors who portray two-thirds of the company’s founders in an upcoming movie.
Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad play Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in Jobs, the biopic about Apple’s late co-founder slated for an April 2013 theatrical release. The two actors will kick off next week’s Macworld/iWorld conference in San Francisco with a session in which they talk about portraying Apple’s two Steves.
The appearance by Kutcher and Gad is just one of two additional Macworld/iWorld sessions announced by event organizers Monday. Musician Will.i.am will appear with Intel futurist Brian David Johnson in a discussion on future technology and gadgets.
“In our 29th year of hosting the event, we have never been more excited about presenting all the ways that Apple and the world of innovative Apple-related products are changing the creative landscape,” said Paul Kent, vice president and general manager of Macworld/iWorld in announcing the two additions to the conference’s schedule.
The annual conference has undergone significant changes since Apple made its last appearance at the event in 2009. The focus of the conference has expanded to include the iOS mobile operating system alongside the traditional sessions on Mac hardware and software. In 2012, event organizers introduced the new Macworld/iWorld name along with events that reflected some of the more creative aspects of the Mac and iOS platforms.
In a sense, the session featuring Kutcher and Gad marks something of a return to form for the Expo format, which used to launch with a keynote session. The two actors will kick off the three-day event at 9 a.m. on Thursday, January 31. The Will.i.am/Brian David Johnson presentation will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday. Both sessions are open to any attendee with an iFan Pass.
Those two additions join already-announced sessions with Portlandia and Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen and a behind-the-scenes look at IFC’s animated series Out There. In addition, the iPhone Film Festival returns to Macworld/iWorld for a second year, as filmmakers showcase movies shot entirely on their smartphones. Macworld/iWorld organizers also promise more than 60 new educational sessions, panel discussions, and how-to presentations next week. The expo hall is slated to feature around 300 exhibitors and developers while the event’s First Looks program will showcase more than 100 products.
Macworld/iWorld runs from January 31 to February 2 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco.
Disclaimer: Macworld.com and Macworld magazine are produced by IDG Consumer & SMB, which shares the same corporate parent, IDG (International Data Group), as IDG World Expo, which runs the Macworld/iWorld trade show.