Today, IFA 2018, Europe’s largest consumer electronics and appliance trade show, kicked off in Berlin, Germany, for a week, until September 5th.
Although IFA is a much larger show in terms of attendance, compared to rival CES, which is produced every January by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), with over 250,000 attendees versus 182,000 for CES, it’s about 40% smaller in surface area and roughly half the number of exhibitors.
IFA is all about making business deals, not buzz about prototypes that will never ship
“What really differentiates IFA from CES is that we help the consumer electronics industry to bring real products to retailers and inform consumers for the upcoming holiday season,” IFA’s executive director Jens Heithecker told me in an interview. “And for exhibitors, we don’t count the ones in hotels or guests that are not present in the exhibition itself.”
According to IFA, more than $5 billion in sales contracts were signed by over 140,000 retailers, distributors, buyers and chains from around the world, during the 6-day event: A crucial indicator for consumer electronics companies selling in Europe which can then plan their production level for the last months of the year.
Although most of the large global consumer electronics brands (Amazon, Asus, Bose, Bang & Olufsen, Casio, Dell, Fitbit, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba) will showcase at IFA, this is not the venue for any crazy futuristic prototypes like you’d find at almost every corner at CES.
The development was reported by forbes.com
