The Neon Rush

The inside take on Computex 2009

Jun 8, 2009 13:36

This year's Computex was certainly more subdued than last year's. The economic meh loomed high above the Taipei World Trade Center as Taiwan's exports have been hit hard in Q1 and Q2.

Computex is the world's second-largest information and communications technology (ICT) show after CeBIT in Hannover, Germany. Many Taiwanese hardware manufacturers are hoping that orders placed at Computex will help turn things around for the rest of 2009. There were definitely buyers out and about and I spoke with quite a few first-time visitors, notably from the Middle East. But in the current environment, people are very careful to place big orders: Saving cash is the prudent thing to do and credit is difficult to come by.  

But it's not all doom and gloom. Taiwanese companies are remarkably frugal and have learned to survive no matter the conditions. Most of the medium to large-sized companies know that Computex isn't the time for new orders, but to solidify relationships with existing customers.

Here are some photos from the week to give you an idea of what Computex is really like.

Putting the final touches on booth decorations.


Intel pushing WiMAX technology (word on the street is that it's cut its Taiwan WiMAX staff to only two people).


WiMAX dongle from local service provider Da Tung. (WiMax and LTE will be the competing technologies for 4G deployments.)


Taiwanese belly dancers make industrial networking gear oh so sexy.


Partying late until the wee hours of the evening with customers at a local night club.


Gigabyte rentend out the 36th floor of Taipei 101 for some hardcore gaming and benchmarking events. First-place winners from the US pictured here.


Looking east from Taipei 101 at the Gigabyte party. Great venue, great event. 


Dinner and entertaimnent at the Ambassador Hotel on Zhong Shan N. Road. Computex brings people from all over the world together, and it brings good business to local hotels and restaurants.


Learning all about Windows 7 at the Microsoft booth.


Time to clean up.

Meetings (unfortunately) and entertainment (fortunately) took up most of my time at Computex, but stay tuned for more information on low-powered Netbooks and a juicy scoop from inside the networking industry: Big brands exposed.

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