CE China — IFA tests the Chinese waters with new consumer show
Messe Berlin, organisers of Europe’s leading consumer show IFA, faced many challenges in transferring their expertise through the red tape required to mount a similar show in China. But the resulting ‘CE China’ event held in Shenzen at the end of April filled one sizeable exhibition hall, attracted a full floor of trade visitors and consumers, and is, as Messe Berlin emphasised, “just a beginning — we are in this for the long haul”.
Highlights included the world debut of the most compact VR glasses yet, the dlodlo Glass V1 (below, in prototype), something of an improvement on current bulky solutions — “Oculus, HTC, Samsung and Sony ‘helmets’ are only for geeks!”, says Thomas Lee of Dlodlo.
It was an education to see the range of products oered by Chinese e-commerce company Ali Baba, which had a large presence at CE China, showing KEF (below) and B&O audio systems among many others. One intriguing Ali Baba innovation is the opening of ‘cloud stores’ — physical shops where products that Ali Baba only sells online can be tried out but not bought — the purchase is still made online.
On the hunt for lovely Chinese valve equipment, we came across the delightful iFi ‘Stereo 50’, an all-in-one vacuum tube amplifier, shown right with its matching LS3.5 monitor speakers — the Stereo 50 boasts USB inputs and aptX Bluetooth in addition to its retro technology. On enquiring further, however, it transpired that iFi comes not from China, but from Southport in the UK, and we find the Stereo 50 and speakers can be bought in Australia through MaxMedia for a bundle price of $3499.
Skyworth (pictured right) was the largest of the increasingly dominant Chinese TV manufacturers at CE China (Shenzen is its home town), as yet a minor player in Australia, but watch this space!
For more information on CE China and Messe Berlin’s plans for 2017, visit www.cechina -ifa.com/en/