News ShowStoppers @
News ShowStoppers @ IFA 2010 The third IFA edition of ShowStoppers showcased products from 26 companies and attracted top executives from major IT and CE manufacturers, as well as hundreds of media representatives. “We played host to 400 journalists, plus VIP invitees and representatives from IFA,” Steve Leon, a partner at Showstoppers, said. “In total over 500 people attended, and we are very satisfied with the evolution and acceptance of the event.” Following are just a few samples of "cool stuff" on show ... The Leon Brothers and hostess Charles Kennard, EMEA representative, Etymotic Research For the audiophile who has everything, here’s something new: eartips perfectly custom shaped for your ear. “You’ll go to an audiologist who will make an impression, an exact replica of your own ear,” Kennard says. Etymotic makes this happen: customers who buy a qualified earphone, headset or Bluetooth headset get a voucher for an ear impression. In goes the cotton, a little silicon, and the mould ships off to the lab. “In seven to 10 days: custom tips.” Kevin Schader, Director of Communications, SD Association “The SD Association now has over 1,000 members and SD memory cards have over 80% of the global market share. Despite our dominant position, we continue to innovate and this year we are introducing a new range of cards with two sets of pins, which have a much higher input and output. The old cards had an information flow rate of 104 Mb per second, whereas the new ones work at 300 Mb per second.” Brendan Gore, European PR Director,Samsung “We are involved in Showstoppers partly because we are sponsoring the World Cyber Games and partly because we have just launched a series of gaming applications that are played on the TV using a mobile phone or the remote to interact with those games. We have also just launched several new laptops with high-end design and which are aimed at specific segments of the market. There is a model for gamers with an HD screen and a high-performance graphics card, and another which is aimed at mobility. It has long battery life, and, like all the other models, was designed stylishly in order to get away from the boxy, square look that typifies portable PCs.” John Brunner, Managing Director, Native Union “We have created what we call a low-tech solution for the mobile world. Our handsets can either be plugged into a mobile phone or work wirelessly using Bluetooth 2.1 which has a range of 30 feet. They allow people to take calls hands-free in a more relaxed manner — better than clamping the mobile to their ear. We have also manufactured a pair of stereo speakers which also use Bluetooth, and when the phone rings, you take the speaker out of its cradle and it automatically becomes a handset.” Craig Wisneski, Head of Product Management, Sonos “We provide a multiple-room home entertainment system. It streams music from the Internet, which can be controlled by various means. Of course we make a remote, but it can also be controlled by an iPhone or iPod Touch and we are also about to introduce an application for the iPad. But the big news is that we have just signed an agreement with Spotify which means that our hundreds of thousands of users now have access to eight million songs. Having Spotify available on Sonos has been the number one request from our European users and we are thrilled to be able to deliver it.” 1924 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 FLASHBACK Loewe was founded in 1923 and, in 1924, the first IFA started and Loewe was there. We have had a lot of experience in radio technology and Loewe invented the first three-tube electronic technology, and that made it possible to produce cheap radio equipment. At the start of the Thirties, Loewe presented the first electronic TV at IFA. Over the years, IFA has become much more international as more visitors come from all over the world. The European CE industry has become much more individual and technologyoriented. Even if you look at the TV set, for example, now it’s connected to the internet, offers multi-room functionalities — it’s everything you want in entertainment. So we’ve seen a lot of changes in the last 20 years. . Dr. Roland Raithel, PR Manager, Loewe AG The world-first electronic television transmission @ Loewe's IFA booth, 1931 www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Saturday, 4 th & Sunday, 5 th September 2010 9
