News EDITORIAL Richard
News EDITORIAL Richard Barnes Editor-In-Chief CHANGING CYCLES No… it’s not a case of getting off one saddle and onto another… Changes to the way products are introduced to the market along with the rapid evolution of distribution are two factors behind the growing success of IFA. Five years ago, Messe Berlin made what looked like a bold decision to include home appliances at the show. In fact the decision was based on the beginning of a groundswell trend in which sales of these goods would increasingly be done alongside traditional Consumer Electronics. The formidable success of this initiative demonstrates the pertinence of this anticipation. This year’s trend towards mobile and wireless is driven by two reasons. Firstly, these products are increasingly becoming part of the CE scene, and secondly, selling cycles and evolution of distribution circuits are changing. Until recently, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was “the” show for mobile. But now, shorter sales cycles mean that while many products are still launched at the start of the year, a growing number are launched with the holiday season in mind, meaning early September is exactly the right time for this. With the growing importance of retail in mobile product distribution, IFA becomes an essential element. Doubtless a growing number of mobile operators will join IFA in the future for the same reasons. IFA is thus even more solidly implanted as “the” place to announce or launch products for the most important sales season of the year. The growing realisation of this is evident this year as a landslide of new products hit IFA. What does 2015 hold in store? We’ll keep you posted! It’s Got the Whole World Talking IFA celebrates 90 th anniversary show with more floor space, more visitors and more product debuts than ever Never before in the 90-year history of IFA have so many products made their world debut at IFA. Global trends such as connectivity, wearables and massive improvements in the images and sound produced by TV and sound systems made this show even more exciting. “As the world’s leading trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances IFA is the world’s most effective information exchange for the industry. Within companies, Within companies, IFA is a matter for decisionmakers at the highest level IFA is a matter for decision-makers at the highest level”, said Dr. Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin. “We are very satisfied with the extremely positive reactions.” Over a period of six days IFA 2014 generated orders totalling €4.25 bn, and organisers say follow-up business is expected to be very good. With 1,538 exhibitors across a display area of around 149,500 sq m, attracted more than 240,000 visitors. The floor space occupied was larger than at any previous event in the history of IFA. 5,900 journalists covered IFA 2014, including over 2,600 media members from around the world. The many reports published in the world’s leading high-circulation print media are a reflection of the high level of interest in IFA. Publications included The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, USA Today and New York Times (USA), The Nikkei (Japan), The Korea Times and JoongAng IIbo (Korea), Le Monde and Le Figaro (France), just to name a few. The presence of numerous international TV networks at the Global Broadcasting Center (GBC) also reflected the heightened interest of the world’s media in IFA. Among the international networks reporting on IFA were CCTV and Jiangsu TV from China, BFM TV and Euronews from France, the BBC, RAI and Mediaset from Italy, NHK from Japan, YTN and KBS from South Korea, TRT and Star Media from Turkey as well as the US networks CNBC/NBC and Bloomberg. IFA+ SUMMIT A MAJOR SUCCESS The conference programme at IFA has acquired an entirely international dimension. The new conference format entitled IFA+ Summit – Next Level Of Thinking was a major success in its first year. Over a period of two days, pioneers, senior executives and entrepreneurs outlined groundswell trends and ideas for a digital future under the headings of Mobility, Health, Big Data, Home, Design and New Entertainment. Meanwhile, international keynotes again underlined the shows vocation of thought leadership, with the likes of Samsung Electronics President BK Yoon, Kirk Skaugen, Senior Vice President of Intel, Matt Rogers, Vice President of Nest Labs, Levent Cakiroglu, CEO of Arçelik, and Dr Andreas Sennheiser and Daniel Sennheiser, the CEOs of Sennheiser Electronics, gracing the stage. For many, planning has already begun for the next IFA Berlin from 4 to 9 September 2015. 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News More Visitors and More Mobility for IFA IFA director Jens Heithecker talks us through all things IFA, now and into the future, starting with the key industry and product trends at IFA 2014. IFA has never before defined the future in such a clear way as this year. We have never before seen as many global trend-setting innovations. We have seen what the important products and product categories will be. This year, the three main trends in our show were higher resolution TV and audio, connectivity, and wearables. The first is excellent news for our consumers and retailers because it is about the quality of the product, not only the size. It’s about the benefit for the consumer, not the technology. It was also interesting to see the huge number of companies coming to the show with new wearable products. They were coming from very different industries such as healthcare, small home appliances, the IT giants and the consumer electronics manufacturers. It is a completely new market where everyone is trying to get in. Who will win is a fascinating question. Who has the best contact with the consumer? Who has the best understanding of consumer behaviour? What will be the most important trends going forward? The most important is the mobile industry, because the mobile will become the remote control for every smart connected thing. That’s a new challenge for the mobile industry and not every operator is prepared for the challenge. It is therefore logical to bring them together with IFA is also reaching a new level of importance for the international press which was 10% up on last year. the consumer electronics and appliances industries. Finding standards between the connected home and the mobile industry is crucial for the big players and a huge opportunity for specialists. What have you seen in terms of visitor trends? To be honest, we would have been happy to hold the level from last year but actually we attracted more visitors and press, so we are very happy. It was a big success story. We saw more trade and public visitors, especially international trade visitors. IFA is also reaching a new level of importance for the international press which was 10% up on last year. And we were already the most international show in terms of press and trade. The fact that we have brought the show to a new level reflects the position of IFA in the market. Why is the show so successful? There are different reasons. One is that IFA is not just a European show, but a global stage for companies. We have buyers from Asia, America, South America, and Africa. So we are talking about the world market. What we do here is prepare the worldwide market, and never before have there been so many innovations. Also consumer electronics is in the driving seat when talking about the digital industry. We see more b2b exhibitors from the ICT industry exhibiting, and we see more b2b trade visitors attending IFA because the core of IFA is so attractive for them. They want to be at this platform. And Berlin has a lot of advantages in terms of having a nice culture and atmosphere and an excellent transport system. And we have very good hotel capacity which makes it easy for visitors to come. We also see more senior company figures coming to IFA. Yes, they are much more visible. We have seen this at the international keynotes and the official receptions. At the press conferences, we also see more company presidents than ever. So yes, IFA is becoming a global stage for the presidents and CEOs. If you have the chance to personally inform 2500 of the most experienced international journalists, then as a president you want to make a personal statement with real innovations and real content. And while they Jens Heithecker IFA Director are here, they can also have meetings with their key partners. Partnerships seem more important than ever. Every company, whatever the size, needs partners with technology and ideas. It is almost impossible to try and survive as an isolated company in this connected world. Even the largest manufacturers are looking for new partners of every size. Here at IFA you can learn about all the potential partners. www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 19 th September 2014 5
