Berlin - This year's most exciting new electrical gadgets
surface on Friday at the IFA consumer-electronics fair in the German
capital Berlin.
An annual parade of flat-screen televisions, sleek digital cameras
and mobile phones with all the extras, this year's IFA has been
expanded to include home appliances such as dishwashers and stoves.
That reflects the fact that many electrical retailers - the main
target of the show - sell both types of product. Many big electrical
conglomerates, who pay for the show, make both sorts of device too.
Underlining the importance of electrical products in keeping
consumer spending brisk as an economic recession looms, German
Chancellor Angela Merkel was set Thursday evening to take time away
from her desk to inaugurate IFA.
The event opens to buyers from all over Europe on Friday and
continues till Wednesday next week.
The arrival of home appliances at IFA brings green issues squarely
into the event.
In recent years, makers of televisions and battery-driven devices
have joined the fashion for energy-saving, but their products have
only a tiny effect on global warming. The major power users in modern
homes are ovens, washing machines and dishwashers.
Industry figures said this week that appliances suck up two thirds
of the electricity used in European homes.
At IFA, the appliances division of German company Siemens this
week described power saving as the industry's 'mega-trend' and
introduced stickers that will persuade shoppers to buy thrifty new
appliances and save money.
Siemens executive Roland Hagebucher said these would include a
dishwasher that uses a zeolite mineral to speed up drying of pots and
plates, also cutting power use. Clothes dryers, which are notoriously
thirsty on power, have also had a makeover.
Bosch claims its EcoLoggixx 7 model, which uses heat-pump
technology, uses 40 per cent less power than dryers currently rated
as environmentally friendly under European Union standards.
Reinhard Zinkann, who heads the home-appliances section of
Germany's ZVEI electrical industry federation, said, 'Appliance sales
are going in opposing directions in Europe right now.
'Sales are declining in major markets such as Italy, Spain and
Britain, whereas they are gaining in France and Eastern Europe.
'In Germany, even though shoppers are very leery of spending in
general right now, we expect to grow sales 4 per cent this year
because buyers are coming back to leading brands and better quality.'
He said manufacturers were well prepared to meet rising demand for
products that crimp energy use, as consumers absorb the message that
their heavy electricity use causes bigger worldwide emissions of
carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel power stations.
Among leisure devices, IFA this year will feature camcorders with
ever-bigger memories. One, according to manufacturer Sony, can
recognize smiling faces and photograph people at their best, rather
than when they blink or frown.
A rash of new global-positioning devices to improve navigation in
cars will also be on show, along with thin flat-panel televisions,
pocket music-players and digital cameras in all variations.
The growth of IFA, which rivals the Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) held every January in Las Vegas, Nevada, has outstripped the
space available in the big concrete pavilions at the Berlin
fairgrounds.
The organizers have set up 11,000 square metres of temporary extra
space this year in tent-like buildings which include the Taiwan
Excellence Pavilion, a showcase for 70 products from Taiwanese
electrical manufacturers which have won design awards.
At 122,000 square metres, total booth space booked at IFA marks a
record for the fair. The event this year features 1,245 manufacturers
from 63 nations, with newcomers from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.
Last year, exhibitors reported taking 2.75 billion euros (4.07
billion dollars) in orders from merchants, and organizers said this
week that 2008 ordering was likely to outstrip that.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story