ShowStoppers IFA In 60 Seconds

Here is my one minute “What I learned at ShowStoppers” report Garmin. In more of a market battle in Europe. Has the iPhone prototypes. GPS is popular in Europe. This is really useful in countries where the road signs are difficult or non-existent. Sounds like Boston to me.

Via. Lot of interest in the low cost laptops. Aristo, HP, others all have them. The market might wait for a more powerful processor. Prices are about the same as the U.S.

Griffin. Lots of vendors are coming up with add-ons and add-ins for Apple consumer products.

DeLonghi makes a really neat looking coffee maker that appears to do everything except drink your coffee and clean your cup. It will set you back 2K Euros. Makes my Mr. Coffee machine look mighty lame.

Compositor is a cool company. They started with digital photo frames and are branching out to home photo servers that send a copy of the junior goes to the prom photo to grandpa’s house.

Olympus has a bunch of new cameras and recorders. I like the ones that are dust and waterproof.

Roomba. Is Europe ready for a Roomba vacuum to scuttle around their houses? Maybe, I’d say the concept is winning some hearts and minds, but not that many people are willing to spend the money yet. Maybe a rent a Roomba for apartment dwellers who want to drink beer and watch soccer instead of cleaning the house.

LG. Okay the the world is racing towards HD televisions and Blue-Ray drives. My house is so far behind the curve on this one, that maybe I should just give up.

This was the first eat, drink and mingle with the exhibitors type event that I have seen at a European trade show. All the journalists showed up when the doors opened which is unlike the U.S. where folks dawdle in throughout the event. The idea that you can get all the information you need in a ten minute table talk with a company instead of sitting through an hour of chest thumping slides has a universal appeal. And the idea that you can grab a beer and decent food between table visits seemed to really get the European press gang going.