Belkin forgoes booth for MWSF 2009

Amid reports of major companies such as Adobe and Creative Labs abandoning plans for exhibit booths on the showfloor at the upcoming 2009 Macworld Expo, iLounge has confirmed with Belkin that it too has made plans for a smaller presence at the show. Roughly two weeks ago, Belkin’s Melody Chalaban shared with us the news that the company will not have a booth on the floor at this year’s show. “We will have a presence at CES and Macworld by holding private meetings in our suites with our channel partners. The difference is that we won’t be exhibiting on the show floor this year,” Chalaban said. “We’re told that smaller groups of customers and channel partners are traveling to CES and MacWorld this year. And those who are attending have stressed their focus on driving incremental value in FY09. Holding private one-on-one meetings in our suites are more conducive to engage in this type of dialogue.” In addition, we were told that recent layoffs at Belkin did not affect the iPod/iPhone division of the company, and that announcements of new products for 2009 will be forthcoming following the Macworld and CES conferences.