“What I saw” or Computex 2010

Computex, which is held in Taipei in late May and early June, is one of the most significant events of the year in the IT telecom industry. It is more IT, than telecom (in telecom, the palm is at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which takes place in February). Traditionally in Taipei, on the one hand, large and not-so-vendor companies (mainly from Taiwan and China) gather, on the other hand, representatives of distribution companies, telecom operators, retail networks, as well as IT journalists from all over the world who come to see all the diversity proposed new products.

This year the exhibition celebrated its 30th anniversary. It is funny to wander around the event and realize that it all started still when even the usual “pisyuk” was considered a wonder and you could only dream about any smartphone communicators (yes, what about them! Just about cellular communication!) some "technologies of the future."
')
This year, the exhibition, in my opinion, turned out to be somewhat less crowded than even a year or two ago. This can be confirmed by at least a decreased number of exhibition pavilions. Hall 2 was “shortened” opposite the Thai tower 101 (which, unfortunately, is NOT the tallest building in the world - the palm passed to Burj Khalifa in Dubai).

Representatives of many companies I know this time did not go to the exhibition. Under the slogan: “Expensive, stressful (because, far to fly), but nothing fundamentally new will be shown.” And the most significant for me - the exhibition was ignored by many leading IT-telecom publications: Computerra, Hi-Tech@mail.ru, Mobile-Review and others.

I explain this state of affairs for two reasons. On the one hand, the exhibition movement in the world has been steadily declining for a long time. The main point of the exhibitions - in a short time to see a lot of new and interesting things, to meet a lot of new people (= to make useful contacts) is a thing of the past. The dynamics of the development of IT-telecom is not the same; new people and companies do not appear in it as often as they used to, and you can talk to already known contacts any time, you don’t have to go to the event to the other end of the world. Indeed, why go to distant lands to look at a new model of a smartphone that can be safely received by DHL (but wherever, except for our beloved “fairy tale country”, where for some reason DHL resets all such parcels back - customs He does not give a go-ahead!), Having previously discussed the terms of delivery via Skype, if desired, even connecting a video camera and organizing a teleconference with a partner (communication cost: 0 rubles 00 kopecks!).

Another reason for Computex's declining popularity in the overall crisis of the industry of the host country is Taiwan. Most IT-telecom giants no longer perceive the fertile island as a place where it is possible to produce millions of IT-portals in a quality and relatively inexpensive way. The main production focus is increasingly moving to mainland China, as well as to other Asian countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Development centers and offices of companies originating from Taiwan remain in Taiwan. Therefore, exhibitions in other Asian countries are becoming increasingly important: Hong Kong, Signapur, etc.

Nevertheless, Computex remains a place, by visiting which you can quickly and clearly form your understanding of the main trends of the Chinese-Taiwanese industry of telecom and computer hardware.

What are these trends? I will not touch purely computer “glands” in this article: to be honest, I’m not all a god who is an expert on mothers, coolers, mice, shtekaras and various metalworking tools. Yes, at the exhibition in Taipei, they show not only the computer hardware itself, but also related products! There are dozens of small companies on the stands, producing ordinary household extension cords, sockets and plugs, as well as firms producing electric and metalworking tools. I am not kidding!

Yes, Computex has a place and power tools!

And even children's toys ....

Some - even with clever e-filling ...

Stationary audio ...

Audio mobile ...

Video stationary ...

And mobile video ...

Big brother is watching you!

A lot of these days (however, as always) are “sewing apparel cutters”, that is, companies producing various kinds of cases for phones, bags for laptops, and similar “about-bag accessories”. Such companies do not differ in anything, they do not demonstrate anything revolutionary either. The only thing that can be noted about this part of the exhibition is that this year’s slogan could well be the thesis: “I didn’t bring the skin to the Apple iPad - LOCH!”. Any case-bags on the "apple-tablet" - even more than enough. The Chinese garment industry is still on the alert and anxiously follows what white people are fond of all over the world.

And, here, to whom skin for iPhon'a?

Or for an iPad?

Or even the back-skin?

The main thing is that the apple on the lid is visible through the skin ...

An iPad in red is a type of fashionable ...

However, I didn’t find as many “reincarnations” of the new-born “apple-tablet” as I expected - only about five of them. Moreover, most of them were presented not as “fake iPad”, but as a product from the “electronic readers” series, moreover, based on the Android OS. These products, according to my observations, did not cause much excitement.

Looks like an iPad? In the off state - maybe yes ...

Communicators, smartphones, telephones. Quite indicative this year was a lull on the front of smartphones and smartphones. They were represented by only two companies -: Acer and SIM Wireless -. Five years ago, there were about a dozen companies that demonstrated communicators on Computex (most of them built on Windows Mobile), including E-TEN (the cherished memory of their own company!), HTC, and Quanta, and many others. The exhibition was completely ignored by the Taiwanese communicator giant HTC, other communicator manufacturers like Toshiba, Gigabyte, Samsung, which is rapidly gaining popularity in Russia ... At this time, only Acer was somewhat noticeable in this area with only two new products.

Acer on Computex 2010 ...

... pleased with the novelties ...

Somewhere I've seen it ...

There was also the company SIM Wireless, very ambitious and very smart guys from China. First of all, the company is famous for the fact that in the last 1.5-2 years it has been the main supplier of RoverComputers. Although according to rumors, we will see the most interesting novelties of this manufacturer in Russia under a different, relatively new brand.

RoverPC S8 and its future competitor. Due to the special shape of the control keyboard and joystick, the new device looks more elongated, less brickish than the classic RoverPC S8.

Find ten differences ...

Back from the beginner, I report to you, much nicer ... Uvatisteee ...

The company showed the original solution - LG's Super qVGA screen, which has a small resolution (240x480), is quite cheap (which makes it possible to use them in very budget devices), but the quality of their pictures closely approaches the high-resolution screens, and in the viewing angles surpass even most VGA displays. According to the company, such a screen is a budget alternative to Super AMOLED and WVGA displays, which are installed on premium products. The cost of the Super qVGA screen is only a couple of dollars higher than a regular qVGA screen! The company plans to start shipping devices with a new screen in the next couple of months. Moreover, the Russian partners of SIM Wireless (and Rover, and other new companies) will try to clearly maintain the price tag of up to 10 thousand rubles, which is good news.

Normal qVGA (left) and Super qVGA (right)

We are waiting in RoverPC and other communicators, originally from SIM'a ...

At the exhibition, there was a Microsoft stand, where, as has traditionally been the custom, “in the zoo mode”, demonstrating all the “innovations” (and not so much) on Windows Mobile. However, something really new and revolutionary in the segment of smartphones-communicators are not noted. Apparently, everything that could be shown was already shown in Barcelona.

Dvuhsimovy Gigabyte GSmart S1205 on Windows Mobile. Stand Microsoft.

The Chinese could not circumvent the now fashionable theme of "grandmothers". The trend to increase the number of offers in this segment has become clear in Barcelona. Although there the Chinese offered devices of different design and ergonomics. Today, it seems, everyone in the Celestial Empire is vying with each other copying models of the Russian-Latvian vendor Just5, as the main trend-setter in this direction. I counted about five Chinese (no name, of course) brand bags, offering the model “a la Just5 CP09” (of course, similar in the main outwardly).

Original - Just5 CP09

And Chinese imitation. Note the name:
Cell phone for Senior - “the phone for the Elder”, apparently, the youngest is not destined to use.

One company even managed to manage to “concoct” a fake CP10.

Just5 CP10 - original

Chinese version. A bit down on the design ...

I have not yet seen the followers of the latest generation of “grandmothers” (CP11 with a “jumping out” screen).

Just5 CP11 is not yet faked ...

But I think this is a matter of time. Month or two and there will be imitators and this model. Although, I was already shown the next product of “Russian gadget lovers-grandmothers” - Just5 “in metal”, which, however, has not yet been announced. Nevertheless, the Chinese, apparently, can so far keep up with the riot of the fantasy of Russian and Latvian phone designers.

Satellite navigation. Here the people are also quite “cooled down” compared to a year or two earlier. If the previous "Computers" GPS-navigators did not expose only very lazy Chinese, now the choice of devices was significantly less, although still very significant. I counted about a dozen companies representing GPS solutions, but there were no major vendors among them. Of the famous was Mio, which, according to local Chinese, has very serious problems around the world, and therefore the fate of the business is very, very unclear.

The stand is still big, but the fate of the business is not clear ...

The company demonstrated a new trend in navigators: the emergence of devices of an intermediate form factor with a diagonal of 6 ". In Russia, the ancestor of this trend was the new domestic brand Lexand, which recently began selling such devices.

Trend for devices with a 6 ”screen ...

... in Russia began with Lexand ST-610

The bulk of the manufacturers of navigators at the exhibition are ODM-assemblers, that is, those who supply devices without a brand to vendors that provide localization and supply of hardware to the market, but under their own trademarks. I was very pleased with the breadth of the Altima product line (one of the vendors-collectors of navigators for the same Lexand brand). GlobalSat and the collectors of JJ-Connect looked a bit more modest and better.

The trend of this year is to combine the functions of GPS navigation with a digital-format TV receiver. Almost one third of manufacturers of GPS navigators showed similar news. However, in Russia this is all weakly relevant due to the non-prevalence of digital broadcasting.

And this is an interesting "appendage" to the navigator - a device that measures tire pressure. The value is displayed on the screen of the navigator located in the car.

As before, sports navigators looked very noticeable - the trend did not die, although I still didn’t observe impressive sales for Russia. Nevertheless, the Chinese are actively "figat" similar devices in the hope that someone will still buy them.

Gadgets. Go to the gadgets ... More precisely, to the trends in this interesting area.

Trend number 1. The abundance of solar-powered portable chargers for laptop communicators ... I even bought one and brought it with me - see what kind of beast. I hope that I will write here my report. A dozen companies represent such devices. Some kind of mania is just ...

Well, a lot of solar panels ...

All calibers and stripes ...

Well, just damn it ...

Trend number 2. All that concerns 3D television. Software, audio systems, various specialized panels, glasses. Obviously, in the field of stereo video in 3D will be one of the most current trends in the near future.

Trend number 3. Mini projectors. Just a couple of years ago, such a segment simply did not exist. Now I have counted about 5 companies representing similar products. We even managed to talk with the president of one of these companies, who spoke about the real boom of micro-projectors in Europe and Japan. In the Taipei airport in DutyFree you can already buy such products! And not one, but two manufacturers.

Pocket projectors are the trend of the future ...

What is the “cymez” of micro projectors? A microprojector is a portable device the size of a cell phone that can display a picture on a wall or on a screen like an ordinary projector. Any image! That is, the microprojector can be used to show presentations, and it is possible to watch movies on it. According to the president of one of the manufacturing companies, it is the latter usage scenario that prevails. That is, devices do not buy as a business tool, but as a toy. He poured on the flash memorials of the heels of files, put them in his pocket, and went to drink beer with friends. He opened the bottle, put the chips, took a micro-projector out of his pocket and watched a movie. The image is displayed directly on the wall. Moreover, the quality is not much different from the usual full-format projectors. Some microprojectors work from a laptop or computer, while others have built-in memory and do not need to be connected to another device.

The only thing that stops the "crusade" of such gadgets on the market is their relatively high price. A good microprojector now costs about $ 400 in retail. Agree, not cheap, for a “collective video player”! However, despite this, in Japan and Europe, several thousand such devices are already being sold monthly and sales are constantly increasing.

The aforementioned president of the manufacturer of projectors noted that the rumors that one of the following versions of the iPhone would receive similar functionality are just rumors, since it is technologically unrealistic to integrate a micro-projector into the compact dimensions of a communicator. Although Mr. President did not rule out that as technology develops and prices for necessary components fall, the functionality of a micro-projector will in the future be 5-8 years as standard for smart phones as GPS navigation or media player today. In a word, “follow the news.”

Trend number 4 The terrible abundance of manufacturers of readers, that is, e-books. Well, the very models of such devices, of course. I counted about two dozen companies. Moreover, except for Acer (see above) and PocketBook, everything else is fine-cut Chinese sharomizhniki, which offered devices in the format of the ODM-assembly. And the most interesting thing that genuinely surprised me: about a third of such models turned out to be the “good old” PocketBook 301! One glance was enough to recognize this device from a Ukrainian-Taiwanese manufacturer, only without the PocketBook brand on the case.

PocketBook has the most prominent stand at the exhibition among all manufacturers of electronic books. And the biggest announced line. I readily believe that the company's positions correspond to the declared ones: 3rd place in the world after Sony and Amazon with a share of 10% and 1st place in Russia with a share of 43%

Mobile gadgets expert and ex-head of E-TEN Information Systems (glofiish communicators) in Russia - Mikhail Fadeev (right) showed up at the PocketBook stand

The most anticipated novelty PocketBook - electronic textbook with a 9 ”screen

She is a close-up ...

PocketBook 601 Revo - restyled classic reader PocketBook 301+, perhaps the most popular reader in Russia today. Novelty received more powerful processor and new design.

She's in pink

PocketBook 602 –restyling PocketBook 302 Cookie - touch screen + WiFi + Bluetooth. More powerful processor.

Nouneym handicraft in the style of PocketBook 301.

And another one…

And yet ... This is at least somehow called. And usually so are nameless ..

Other Chinese e-book variations ...

e-INK in red ...

... and in pink ...

... and in white ...

From famous brands ...

... and not very famous ...

And even without any brands at all ...

And in Chinese ...

It's funny that the Chinese did not stop at the fact that they began to offer different variations on the topic with e-INK, although the lion's share of devices still has screens built on this technology. A significant part of the manufacturers now offer "budget" readers. In fact, this is the return of the once forgotten TabletPC concept with a TFT screen. Simply called it is now more fashionable, more relevant to the latest trends. Everyone knows that TabletPCs do not enjoy popularity, while the word "reader" is already causing blissful awe to most market participants. The Chinese “overlooked” this topic and slightly changed the positioning of the good old devices, calling them “e-books” (which the Tablet PC, of course, are not: the main feature of the modern reader is the e-INK screen). Moreover, there was even one “super-smart” Chinese manufacturer, who included two “keywords” in the name of his product (which, apparently, according to the authors of this creation should result in constant instant trepidation of all white people): MID and reader) . Just wonderful! In marketing savvy Chinese can not refuse!

Very often, readers began to call simple "tablets" with TFT screens, which do not have the properties of a real reader ...

But they already have color ...

Reader on android - why not? The Chinese can do anything ...

The MID theme is still exciting ... A

clever Chinese person should know the keywords that excite the white person ...

And most importantly, crush the scale!

That, and perhaps all that I wanted to tell. It remains to add that this year's trip to Computex was a bit strange. On the one hand, the weather pleased: in Taipei it was warm, but not at all stuffy. There was no usual feeling of a suffocating sauna for this pore. On the contrary, it is cool in the evening, but not hot, in the afternoon it is also very comfortable.

Secondly.This time, my colleague and I were sent on the way back in a very strange way: their Taipei to the Chinese city of Chengdu, from there to Beijing, and from Beijing to Moscow. I looked at how mainland China lives. Making sure that China (it’s also China Socialist) and Taiwan (it’s also China Capitalist) are really two VERY big, tangible differences. By the way, if someone gathers for Computex in the same way the next time, keep in mind: for domestic flights in mainland China, a separate Chinese visa is needed (they are not allowed from Taiwan!). If the visa is not, you will be removed from the flight and sent the other way, and not faster and more comfortable. I had a visa, although my travel agency did not warn me about its necessity. And here, one journalist friend who was also sent by the agency did not want to go out in China, he did not get a visa,for which he suffered: in Taipei, he was removed from the flight and sent to another, cunning way a day later.

So, be careful, dear compatriots!

Finally, a few more pictures: