News The Gala crowd
News The Gala crowd gathers for a group photo celebrating the EISA Awards 2012 CE Industry Rewarded at Gala Evening EISA Awards at Berlin's Ritz Carlton are a highlight of IFA Week The annual EISA Awards took place during IFA at the plush Ritz Carlton Hotel on Berlin's glamorous Potsdamer Platz, on Friday evening. Viewed by many as the Oscars of the CE industry, the EISA Awards are chosen by panels representing more than 50 prominent photo, video, audio, home theatre and mobile electronics magazines from up to 19 European countries. Celebrity German TV presenter, Hadnet Tesfai vibrantly hosted the evening. LG picked up a prize for its soon-to-be-released OLED 55-inch TV with Toshiba awarded for its glasses-free 3D TV, and Panasonic and Philips (TP Vision) awarded for their Plasma and LCD TVs. LG's Ilgeun Kwon, Senior Vice President, Head of TV Laboratory at LG Electronics, Oliver Seidl, CEO at Loewe, and Maarten Jan de Vries, CEO of TP Vision, were among senior CE company executives receiving the well-earned awards on behalf of their companies. EISA President Jorge Gonçalves said the awards provide a Europe-wide window for cutting-edge products. “EISA helps manufacturers to sell products because the team of experts deciding the awards does so based on their true value for consumers. This creates a pull effect via the retailers,” he said. The EISA Awards pay tribute to new products that combine the most advanced technology, the most desirable features, the ultimate expression of design, the most satisfying ergonomics and, of course, the greatest value for money – the features most likely to be appreciated by an enthusiastic public seeking high quality and creative products. On winning two major awards including Best European Plasma TV, Fabien Roth, Director Consumer TV, Panasonic Marketing Europe, commented: “We are delighted that the EISA judges have recognised how our Viera TV range is setting the standard for home entertainment and remain committed to continued innovation to ensure we provide the best possible home entertainment experience." Since 2005, EISA has also introduced "green" awards in the categories of Green TV and Green Mobile Phones. This year’s EISA Green TV award went to the Philips 55PFL6007, a fully-featured Smart TV offering advanced functionality. “The EISA Green TV award is great and independent proof that our engineers again succeeded in creating a TV that coherently combines sustainability and performance,” said Alain Perrot, Chief Commercial Officer at TP Vision. "While today's TVs are being offered with ever-bigger screens, this doesn't have to mean a bigger cost to the environment." The European Green Smart Phone Award went to the Sony Xperia P which outperformed in terms of energy performance while making efficient use of materials of environmental concern. www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Monday 3 rd September 2012 13
