Cebit show reveals hi-tech trends

By Mark Ward
Technology Correspondent, BBC News website

More than 400,000 people attended the Cebit show in Hanover

After a week of launches, press conferences and exhibiting the giant Cebit technology fair is coming to a close.

Held in Hanover the annual get together typically sees more than 400,000 visitors, 10,000 of which were journalists, traipse through 27 exhibition halls visiting the stands of 6,262 companies.

In 2006, more than in many other years, the domestic, as opposed to business, side of technology was on show at Cebit. Flat screens, mobile phones and music players sat alongside logistics software, servers and petabyte-sized storage systems.

The emphasis on consumers underscored the fact that gadgets are not just for geeks anymore. We all use them, all the time.

Screen digest

The big developments seem to be happening at the extremes of the hi-tech world and revolve around putting moving pictures on either very small screens or very large screens.

Any visitor to Cebit could not help but notice flat screens everywhere - some of them absolutely monstrous. The prize for the largest screen went to Panasonic, which showed off a plasma screen 103in (261cm) across. Close behind was LG with its 100in (254cm) LCD screen.

The big screens were used to show off the capabilities of high definition video and TV programmes because 2006 looks like it will be the year that HD starts to hit the mainstream. Many of the large flat screens on show at Cebit were marked as HD Ready and have the HDMI sockets to link them to set-top boxes and HD-DVD players.

Flat screens were everywhere at the Cebit show

In the next few weeks the first HD-DVD discs from Warner Home Video should be in shops. HD-DVD players are already on sale and in the UK the first HD programmes are starting to be broadcast.

But Cebit also saw lots of interest at the other end of the spectrum - getting TV onto the small screens of mobile phones.

Change management

Handsets from Nokia and LG were touted as ready to show TV programmes and the World Cup in Germany this year will test consumer interest in the technology and the ability of the mobile networks to carry it.

Numerous surveys show that consumers do want to watch TV on their mobiles but it remains to be seen how much they are willing to pay for it, what they want to watch and whether they prefer to stream it to a handset or download it and watch it at their leisure.

The amount of interest in TV on mobile phones emphasised how important mobile gadgets - be they handsets, media players, game consoles or computers - have become.

The show saw the launch of many gadgets aimed at music fans, photography buffs and those that want to connect with the net-based parts of their lives when they are out and about - which is pretty much all of us these days.

Phone firms want to get you watching while you walk

The big buzz during the opening days of the show was all about Microsoft's much talked about Origami device which the software giant touted as an ultra-portable PC.

Unfortunately the buzz of interest turned to raspberries as the limitations of the first Origami devices became apparent. With only a three hour battery life and a cost perhaps double early estimates, few believe Microsoft has a winner on its hands with these first devices.

Significantly, all the prototype Origami devices were made by Asian firms - Samsung, Asus and Founder. The Cebit show revealed the strength and confidence of Asian manufacturers, be they makers of TVs, mobile phones, network hardware or suppliers of software outsourcing services.

All in all Cebit was a good snapshot of the hi-tech industry as it stands right now - almost overwhelmingly busy and on the verge of huge changes. Who knows what next years show will bring?