News ZYPRIES AND
News ZYPRIES AND WOWEREIT TOUR IFA “IFA provides impressive evidence of the importance of digitalisation in our daily lives. The long-cherished idea of the interconnected home is becoming tangible at this year’s IFA”, said the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, Brigitte Zypries. She took part in a tour of IFA 2014 together with the Governing Mayor, Klaus Wowereit, and was accompanied by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the gfu, Hans-Joachim Kamp, a member of the gfu Supervisory Board, Hans Wienands, and the Chief Executive Officer of Messe Berlin, Dr. Christian Göke. The visitors stopped at a number of stands, including those of Samsung Electronics, ARD, Deutsche Telekom, Loewe, Panasonic, Euronics, Philips, Sony and Vodafone, and at the Home Appliances section, where they inspected the displays by AEG, Miele and Robert Bosch Hausgeräte, among others. “It is very encouraging to see that exhibitors are increasingly addressing the vital issue of energy efficiency” Zypries stated. “Nowadays this need no longer detracts from the enjoyment of life. On the contrary, reduced energy consumption can also be associated with certain additional benefits.” Mota demonstrates 3D printing at TecWatch Living Together in the Digital Age A vision of the future with IFA TecWatch Be it new standards and solutions for digital media, future-proof energy efficiency concepts, 3D printer products, ease of operation in the smart home, data security and security in the home, fitness and health apps or ideas for solving transport and traffic problems, IFA TecWatch displayed the technologies for the markets of tomorrow. The combined international display featuring Ultra HD and smart TV technology was again a special highlight of IFA TecWatch. Smart Home, Smart City: Living in the digital world – that was the slogan adopted for this year’s combined presentation by the three associations, VDE, ZVEH and ZVEI, at IFA in Berlin. The presentations centred around the newly designed E-Haus, a 100 square-metre model house featuring interlinked, intelligent building services engineering. All the technology that was on show there is already available. Thus the E-Haus provided a look into present-day technology and into developments that will be implemented on a wide scale in the future. STARTUP DAY@IFA TECWATCH FORUM Startup Day@IFA marked its debut at IFA 2014. The focus was on future-oriented markets, under topic headings such as the Connected Home, Wearables, Healthcare and Urban Technologies. At Startup Day@IFA, IFA TecWatch and Bundesverband Deutsche Startups joined forces to showcase the latest products and best innovations from Europe’s startups. 8
News DEUTSCHE TV- PLATTFORM: DIGITAL TELEVISION IS SMARTER, SHARPER AND MORE INTERCONNECTED “The market is defined by three trends”, explained Wolfgang Elsässer, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche TV-Plattform, speaking to the press at IFA. “Digital television is becoming smarter, sharper and more interconnected.” According to GfK Retail & Technology, German households currently contain more than 62 million HDTV sets. In only one year the number of UHD models has passed the 60,000 mark. By the middle of this year there were more than 17 million TV sets with internet capability in Germany. Of these more than twelve million also support the HbbTV standard (hybrid broadcast broadband TV). At the same time, according to Elsässer, there has been an increase in the degree of interconnection between the TV screen and other devices with screens, and in the parallel use of various different devices. He emphasised that Deutsche TV- Plattform, with its four working groups, some of them new, and dedicated to UHD, smart TV, Mobile Media Use and Broadcast Infrastructure, “addresses and shapes current trends”. This is also evident in the association’s activities at IFA and in its new publications. 6 th MacLAND Day at IFA Chris Heth Sales Manager, MacLAND GmbH MacLAND-Day is a special one-dayonly event focusing on Apple-related products within the framework of the IFA. A distributor specialised in the Applerelated market, MacLAND invited dealers from Germany and Europe, along with press. Interested dealers could show a business card to be admitted entrance. MacLAND’s Chris Heth says MacLAND-Day is well received “because we show product from leading brands in one large conference room.” Their vendors, as well as the MacLAND-Team, were there to discuss what’s new in the Applerelated business. And probably to swap rumours about what would be announced at Apple’s upcoming press conference. This year MacLAND had 18 vendors flying in from across Europe and USA to be present and show their latest products Participating vendors included Acme Made, Artwizz, Blue Microphones, C6, Fitbit, Halopad, Just Mobile, Kensington, Mophie, Mujjo, Netatmo, SDI (iHome), Smart Things, Tucano, Twelve South, Vaavud, and View Quest. “We had a 'behind closed doors' room to show some as-yet unannounced products or two,” noted Heth. “It was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the show floors. The free buffet and fresh-pressed Juice Bar was enjoyed by all attendees.” COMPUTEX d&i awards make a show at IFA COMPUTEX d&i awards booth IFA The COMPUTEX d&i awards, which celebrate Taiwanese excellence in technology every June in Taipei, visited IFA as the first stop on its world-tour showcase. This is the third time the COMPUTEX d&i awards have attended the world’s largest consumer electronics show. Standing on the main aisle of IFA Hall 25 with its singular booth design, the COMPUTEX d&i awards pavilion attracted a lot of visitors daily. A fresh line-up of 74 winning products from the 2014 COMPUTEX d&i awards captivated IFA visitors. The 2014 COMPUTEX d&i award winners include diverse ICT products like smart gadgets, components, gaming accessories, notebooks, AIO, mobile devices and smart watches. At IFA, top executives from Taiwan leading brands such as D-link, Innergie, Optoma and Transcend profiled ICT trends and introduced new products at the Taiwan Products Launch Press Conference held by TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) - the organiser of COMPUTEX TAIPEI. www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 19 th September 2014 9
