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2 September 2011
Chips with everything at IFA electronics show
Euronews.net - IFA, Europe’s leading trade fair for consumer electronics and home appliances, is underway in Germany’s capital Berlin.
Techheads gathered to check out the latest innovations and trends, with the industry hoping that it can find the next big thing to reverse flat or declining sales in these economic hard times.
The show’s organisers see business booming. IFADirector Jens Heithecker said: “We have, again, hit a new record in terms of exhibitors. This year we have more exhibitors than ever before: 1,440, of which over 1,000 are foreign companies.”
The hot item remains the tablet computer and Sony is coming late to the market dominated by Apple’s iPad.
Sony’s top boss Howard Stringer tried to turn that into an advantage. He said Sony is going “to take the tablet world to a whole new level – and prove that it is not who makes it first that counts, but who makes it better”.
But it will be an uphill battle. Sony’s offering failed to excite gadget reviewers and was criticised over price and quality.
Once a symbol of Japan’s high-tech might, Sony is struggling under the weight of its money-losing TV division and badly needs the boost of a hit product – this does not look like it.
