Next week's
CeBIT
tradeshow in Hanover will be a transitional edition in a last ditch effort to
polish up the event's tarnished image, according to the show's organiser,
Deutsche
Messe.
By next year, CeBIT will no longer attempt to cover the entire IT industry
but will shift focus to niche markets.
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"The IT industry, the main market for CeBIT, is going through an expansive
change process which is bound to have an impact on the tradeshow as an
international trendsetter," Ernst Raue, board member for Deutsche Messe,
conceded to German news agency DPA.
CeBIT has been battling a gradual drop in attendance and exhibitors. This
year, Nokia
and
Motorola
pulled out in favour of the
3GSM show in Barcelona.
The host city of Hanover is ill-equipped to receive the huge flow of people
attending the event, sending prices for the city's few hotels skyrocketing.
CeBIT has essentially fallen victim to the same problems that killed the
Comdex convention in 2002.
Both events suffered from a lack of focus on the show floors as well as in
the audience. This spawned a cycle of brand-name exhibitor departures, followed
by corporate buyers.
As the relative number of gadget-hunting consumers increased, additional
exhibitors pulled out.
As demonstrated by the Nokia and Motorola pull-outs, more focused events are
having success in improving attendance. In addition to 3GSM, CeBIT is facing
harsh competition from the
IFA
television show in Berlin.
There is no guarantee that attempts to restructure CeBIT will be successful.
The 2002 edition of Comdex was also billed as a transitional event.
The changes caused attendance to plummet by nearly 50 per cent and marketing
statements promising a come back have never materialised.
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