Apple has confirmed the rumors that it will not have a booth at The NAB Show this year. This follows Avid's announcement late last year that it would not be on the NAB Show floor this year, leaving a very large gap in the South Hall.

Like Avid, Apple is cutting down on its presence at trade shows this year, in order to focus on more direct communication with its customers. According to Anuj Nayar, senior manager of PR at Apple, "The increasing popularity of our retail stores and Apple.com Web site allows us to directly reach more than 100 million customers around the world in innovative new ways.”

While a website is great for communication, it's likely that more direct contact is going to be required for the Professional Audio and Video application customers. The NAB's spokesman, Dennis Wharton, is quoted as saying that NAB is working on some "on-site business opportunities with Apple.”