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CeBIT, World's Largest IT Conference, Canned (dw.com)
Despite turning the trade fair into a fun fair, organizers could not save the beloved but struggling trade fair. CeBIT once boasted 850,000 visitors a year, but that heyday has long since passed. An anonymous reader shares a report: Organizers announced on Wednesday that the world's largest IT conference will be no more. CeBIT, held every year in Hanover, Germany, has been canceled for 2019 facing declining visitor numbers and decreases in exhibition space rentals. "There will be no more CeBIT in Germany in the future," said Onuora Ogbukagu of Deutsche Messe AG, which ran the trade fair that hosted the likes of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and data privacy advocate Edward Snowden.
CeBIT was once considered the best barometer of technological trends, and during the dot-com boom in the late 90s and early 2000s, it boasted some 850,000 visitors a year. However, that number has been declining for years, despite cultivating a 'fun fair' atmosphere. The news was met with an outpouring of gratitude for the conference-meets-festival on social media, with many calling it the "end of an era."
CeBIT was once considered the best barometer of technological trends, and during the dot-com boom in the late 90s and early 2000s, it boasted some 850,000 visitors a year. However, that number has been declining for years, despite cultivating a 'fun fair' atmosphere. The news was met with an outpouring of gratitude for the conference-meets-festival on social media, with many calling it the "end of an era."
All the lost money from travel agencies, airlines, hospitality companies, hotels, restaurants, schwag makers... And the taxes lost on those sales. Oh well.
Same thing happened to COMDEX. Used to be a huge show in Vegas every year, but vendors, why wait for a show when you can announce the product on your website, and customers, why go to a show when you can see it on the web?
Also, frosty piss.
I remember going there in the 2000s, and it was considered THE IT fair.
I never left, without at least one job offer.
If they had not changed from back then, I don't see why any of that would have changed.
So: Anyone who went there more than once: What exactly caused this downturn?
Was it that "fun fair" thing? Cause I don't remember that. (Apart from maybe the graphics card and game input device vendors.)
I think the problem is technology now is so Phone Based today, that there is really anything interesting to show.
Look my Glass rectangle is superior to your Glass rectangle because it has more dots that you cannot see then the other guys.
Then the rest are just Apps.
Sure you can cover cloud stuff, but that isn't really that interesting, as you probably need to show it off on an App on your glass rectangle.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Anyone remember Comdex? Back then Palm was all the rage. Boy did Palm fuck up their chance, they could have easily been Apple with a decent phone like the Iphone. They even had the tech and capability to do it.
Now Comdex, Palm, and many others are for the most part dead. Good times.
I mean is this a surprise. COMDEX has been dead and buried for more than a decade now. If there is any surprise at all here its that CeBIT lasted this long.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
You mean COMDEX isn't being held anymore?
Oh wait, it's not 2002.
...when you ban booth babes.
There are exceptions: for kids, Disneyland will be a thrill; for adults going to a restaurant is nice. But going to another city, another country is not rewarding.
You already know what that city is like. You've seen pictures and videos, you know something about the geography, the history, the current reputation of that city. When you get there you will probably confirm what you already know. You will go to tourist traps, places where nobody who lives there will go. You will spend money, lots of money. You will deal with the chaos of taxis, hotels, airlines and security intrusions.
Better to visit the city via books, movies, YouTube, etc. If it's for business, use the internet.
...omphaloskepsis often...
They used to do ARM, but Japan owns that now.
Nope, you must be thinking of the US.
I mean all the "creative industries" (which is an oxymoron anyway, but whatever) only keep recycling the same old shit again and again. They even made up a bullshit concept for it, called "intellectual property", and act like that's actually a real thing. (Slashdot of the late 90s and early 2000s, when people still had a clue, before the propaganda began, would have laughed them out of the universe for it.)
Nearly all we get is Nazi Übersoldat... err, I mean "superhero" movies, mumble (c)rap, for-profit-manipulative open-world mmorpg mass-murder simulators, and other things built entirely from worn-out tropes.
And research, curiosity and education generally are treated stepmotherly.
Nobody dares anything anymore. Everyone is obsessed with "safety" and "security" over curiosity and openness. Pointing fingers at unknowns and shadows, hiding in fear.
Why not just move it to Cannes?
Tech has gotten pretty repetitive. You have either uninspired iterations of established things or promises that lead nowhere.
VR, modular smartphones and many other things that get our little nerd hearts beating the imperial march... they've been promised to us and then killed or delivered in what I'll call a subpar experience with a lot of goodwill on my part.
A new CPU (as opposed to all the rebrandings they are doing) from Intel might be exciting. A good GPU from AMD too.
RTX had the potential to be something but fell flat on its face because some schmuck couldn't keep it in his pants until developers were read yto awe us.
Second: Ya had to get rid of the booth babes, didn't ya. If I want an absolute sausage fest, I'll go to VMworld, thank you very much.
Back in the day it was the IT conference to be. But with an abundance in hardware and google and Apple events streamed around the globe instantly the need for these IT fairs has vanished.
I was there back in the 90did and it was the most hyped global event. These days republica, sxsw and other meta events are sort of hype, and only hacker events such as ccc are still where they used to be.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Yep, we're 'ARMless now. Please don't hurt us.
Ezekiel 23:20
I'm not sure you've noticed, but we're not exactly agrarian, nor did we become a place made out of 50% of banks and 50% of movie sets, so industry it is.
Saudi's have investments in SoftBank
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
CeBIT was once considered the best barometer of technological trends
Well, perhaps it still continues with its barometering by the action of going to the can.
No more CeBIT only editions to draw out release cycles with!