It doesn't get any bigger than Gitex

Gitex. For some of you, it starts today with the opening of Shopper at the Airport Expo. For many of you, it starts tomorrow with the opening of the business-to-business (B2B) show at the World Trade Centre. For me and a bunch of other harried journos, it's been going on for over a week.

The phone has been ringing off the hook as the "PRs" jockey for their clients, trying to secure interviews by extolling their initiatives or their innovations, their products or their profits — whatever will get our attention. On the journo's end, we start off friendly enough, but by end of the week we're biting our tongues to keep from saying things like "what part of ‘no' didn't you understand?"

The downside to this is that most of us — the PRs included — start off Gitex Technology Week in a foul temper. The upside though is that we have a rough idea of just what to expect.

From what I've been hearing, there isn't going to be a lot of big announcements this week.

This isn't anything to do with Gitex, it's just that most companies use the internet or their own special shows to make major announcements. What there will be this week is a lot of products.

Leading the show

Microsoft will probably be leading the show in that regard, judging from the fact that quite a few of their big guns are in town.

Steve Guggenheimer, who leads the companies OEM division, will be giving a keynote, so we'll probably be getting a sneak preview of the new Windows 7 for mobiles.

Complaints over price aside, Microsoft seems to think they have a way back into the mobile market with Windows 7, and given their strong support for Gitex over the last few years and the lack of any strong products from their consumer electronics division, it will probably be a major focus early on in the show.

Speaking of companies trying to regain prominence in the mobile phone market, Nokia too will be there. They'll be there pushing the N8 and talking about apps. Why would a company like Nokia, which is known for offering the worst selection of apps around, take on the subject? Because they know they suck and want to correct that.

New toys on the block

BlackBerry will also be riding all the free advertising that the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency has done for them over the last few months. Obviously happy that they're here at all, they are eagerly pushing two phones, a new Curve and the Torch.

Panasonic and Samsung will be going toe-to-toe in the television category, each trying to out-inch each other with their 3D screens.

You'll also be seeing a large push from Panasonic on green products. There are hopes that maybe we'll get to see the Samsung tablet, but I think that's a long shot.

There will also be plenty of computers, and it's either a very good or a very bad time to buy, depending on where you want the latest CPUs.

Intel's latest chips for desktops, notebooks and notebooks are scheduled for release next year, so the techheads out there will probably be postponing any purchases. However, now might be a good time to keep an eye out for retailers looking cut down to their inventory of computers with i3 and i5 processors.

Other than that, the pickings are slim. Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook-founder Mark, will be there. I'm really not sure what to think of her appearance here. What can Facebook say to the Middle East?

But that's part of what makes Gitex interesting still. Despite the push over the last week, there are still some things that will be surprises.