Asian and US sales executives, normally noted for their charm offensive at the bi-annual International Broadcasting Exhibition (IFA) in Berlin, have this week been struggling to keep smiles on their faces.
Stagnation in the electronic entertainment industry and sagging attendances at the fair are both to blame.
PHOTO: AFP
The show may be awash with advertising slogans, balloons and banks of glimmering TV sets and video recorders, but the trouble is that consumer interest appears to be waning.
More than 100,000 visitors showed up at the huge IFA show in the first two days after its 1999 opening. By comparison, last weekend's attendance was just 80,000, and figures remained lower than expected in the first half of the week.
When he opened the 200l show a week ago, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had a vision of this year's IFA being an "upbeat event."
But with manufacturers of TVs, video equipment and hi-fi appliances reporting a 5-percent slump in turnover in the first six months of the year, it's proving a touch difficult getting joyful about current industry trends.
The enlarged exhibition area is filled with gadgetry, sophisticated and sometimes bizarre in design.
People crowd around the world's longest picture tube, peer at minute camcorders and gasp at a TV screen so vapor thin that it's in danger of getting washed away with the wallpaper.
You can even find video recorders built like mini battleships.
Fascinated by the advances in the electronic entertainment field, young Germans look towards Asia for innovations -- and throng the stands of Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, Sanyo and Yamaha.
From the Far East the news is sobering. Toshiba and Hitachi, two of the electronic giants in the east, are set to slash their work forces.
Toshiba, employing 188,000 people, will shed 20,000 jobs. Likewise Hitachi is also planning to cut its staff by 20,000. The news follows similar threats of job slashing by some European manufacturers, among them Siemens and Thomson Multimedia.
Not that this is registered by the Berliners. They stroll in leisurely fashion through the halls, clutching Panasonic promotional balloons shaped like small airships which, when inadvertently released by their bearers, shoot up to the ceiling.
In Berlin, Japanese executives have been at pains to play down the job cutting.
"These things happen in our sector," says a Sony official sanguinely, as if such developments are seasonal.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source