Observers may be questioning the direction CeBIT is taking, but the showcase still has mass appeal, writes Mike Butcherin Hanover
March brings variable weather to Germany's central plain - a day of bright sunshine could easily give way to drifting snow. The atmosphere at the annual CeBIT trade fair, held in Hanover, can be just as hard to predict.
Observers have recently questioned the direction of the show. Is it a showcase for consumer electronics? Is it an enterprise technology fair, a conference, a meeting place for small business, or a forum for government ministers?
Those who feel consumer electronics is the future put much store by Apple's decision to attend the showcase, to promote its digital TV and entertainment technologies.
Much was also being made of German industrial giant Siemens's decision not to attend. Meanwhile, meetings of EU and G8 IT and telecoms ministers added to CeBIT's relevance for political decision-makers.
Either way, CeBIT continues to have mass appeal. One of the highlights of this year's show was the latest assault by PC makers on the dream of a new category of computing: the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). But the question is, do we really need it? There was no mistaking the confidence of Samsung executives as they announced a new version of its UMPC, one a year on from its launch at CeBIT.
They and partners Intel and Microsoft believe the machine will create a whole new market. However, after disappointing sales, is there a market for a device that is bigger than your pocket and a mobile phone, yet smaller than a laptop?
The UMPC was billed as democratising computing, with a simpler interface, entertainment features and a very long battery life to aid portability.
The reality was that a only a handful of devices appeared and, in many cases, the hype did not live up to the expectation. Users were disappointed by products that were too large, too slow, too expensive, ran out of power quickly, lacked important wireless features and had only a virtual keyboard.
Doggedly marching on, Samsung unveiled its most advanced UMPC to date, the Q1 Ultra, which it hopes will improve on sales of the first Q1, which came to less than 100,000. It's now aiming for 200,000-300,000 sales, and hinted that a low-cost version could also be on offer. Elsewhere, EU information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding was flexing her regulatory muscles and threatening to mandate a single technology standard to enable mobile phones to show broadcast television if the industry does not choose one for itself.
Reding and the European Mobile Broadcast Council (EMBC) agree that using a single standard would help the fledgling but potentially lucrative industry to cut costs and justify investment.
But the EMBC, a body derived from the industry and set up to advise the European Commission on the market, urged the EU executive not to single out one standard over another as countries experiment with the technologies available.
Reding backed the DVB-H standard, developed in the EU and partly funded by EU money, and urged the industry to agree to it, although she did not preclude that another standard could be chosen.
Most member states, 17 out of the 22 that have mobile TV, use DVB-H, the commission said. Five, however, use the DMB standard developed by Korea, while the situation gets more complex in Germany, where federal states decide which to use, it said.
CeBIT featured another clash of technology standards as the Blu-ray Disc Association said it aimed to replace the DVD storage format within three years.
"Within three years it will just be Blu-ray," Frank Simonis, the Blu-ray Disc Association's European chairman, said at the show.
Blu-ray, which offers five times more storage capacity than DVDs for high-definition films and other content, will first have to beat the rival HD-DVD format, which offers somewhat lower storage capacity but claims cheaper production of players, burners and discs.
Measured in the number of players, Blu-ray is already well ahead of HD-DVD because Sony's PlayStation 3 video games console comes with a built-in Blu-ray player.
There was also the usual flow of deals announced at the event. Intel and Infineon Technologies announced partnerships with BMW and Hyundai Motor that reflect the growing importance of electronics in cars.
Among the positive aspects of CeBIT, especially for smaller firms, were the demonstrations of technology of a type normally reserved for large enterprises.
It also brought together several strands of technology, making it an important showcase for anyone who is serious about either selling or using "converged" solutions. In addition, it allowed large and small vendors to set up stall side by side.
"We can make contacts that we would not make at other shows," said James Tagg, chief executive of Truphone, a fast-growing company in the converged internet telephony and mobile sector that exhibited at CeBIT and is looking for partnerships. - (Additional reporting Financial Times service,Reuters)
