CES Hometech draws mixed response

Dubai: When the doors closed last Tuesday on CES Hometech's second annual show, reactions to how well the consumer electronics show had done were mixed.

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the producer of one of the largest technology shows in the world, the International CES show in Las Vegas. The Hometech show was rebranded last year as part of the CEA's focus on the Middle Eastern markets.

According to Elizabeth Hyman, a CEA vice-president, the company focused on increasing the size of the show from last year. To that end, CES Hometech met its producer's expectations. The show added almost 70 new vendors, resulting in 250 total exhibits covering 68,000 square feet. The show also added a gaming area, the only area of the show open to the general public, and a customised vehicle area.

"We're looking for steady progression, and I think that's what we're seeing," she said.

Opportunity

Noel Lee, the CEO of Monster Cable, a large supplier of audio and video cabling, said his company's attendance at the show was an "opportunity to meet some the key leaders in the industry here". Lee described the Middle East and other emerging markets as a future market place.

"There is a great potential here," he said.

Not all the exhibitors were happy, though.

Amir Anwar, managing director of Dubai Home Audio, who travelled in January to see the CES show in Las Vegas, said he had been sold on a different plan.

"We expected the show to be bigger, not smaller," he said, speaking about the number of visitors he say at his booth.

The time and effort Anwar's crew put into the show was considerable, including the time to build a completely enclosed home theatre. He said he received some regional contacts thanks to the show, but whether those contacts turn into clients will take some time. He was concerned about the number of people who attended the show and said he is unsure whether Dubai Home Audio will exhibit at next year's show.

"If we did have the stand located so close to the entrance, I'm not sure we would have seen the people we did," he says.

The number of people attending the show was a concern. Probir Mukherjee, Al Futtaim's managing director of electronics, said the show should have been open to the general public in some way to increase attendance figures. Al Futtaim sits on the CES Hometech's advisory panel.

The CEA has said it is open to the idea.

Energy

"CES is trade only in Las Vegas, but there is a certain energy that comes from having people," Hyman said.

According to the Eckhard Pruy, CEO of Messefrankfurt, which manages the show, 19,000 "bone-fide trade visitors" attended the five ongoing events at the World Trade Centre last week. Along with CES Hometech, four other shows ran concurrently at the centre, including ISH Kitchen and Bath Middle East and the Garden and Landscaping Middle East Exhibition. More specific numbers for CES Hometech were not available at press time.

Despite some complaints, a number of exhibitors said they were happy with the number of visitors they saw, at least early in the show.

Haier, a company based in Qingdao, China, and one of the largest manufactures of household appliances in the world, said it saw a solid number of visitors at the Dubai show who were interested in knowing more about the brand.

Diao Yunfeng, the managing director for Haier, which he called Chinese equivalent of General Electric, said he was looking to increase the company's market share in the region.

"It is the time for Haier to get a presence in the Middle East, and make Haier one of the top brands here," he said. Yunfeng said he also saw CES Hometech as a gateway to Africa and West Asia, not just into the Middle East. Haier also exhibits at the CES show in Las Vegas.

The show even included some exhibitors and potential exhibitors from the United States, some with a distinct Middle Eastern flavour. Bishara Tannous exhibited his Shishavac, a small device that looks like a high-end coffee makers that cleans shisha pipes. Tannous who used to work at a shisha bar in Chicago developed the device and brought it here to the Middle East.

A number of other American businessmen, Bunty Lalchandani of MicroWorld and Shailendra Suman of ifi Systems also came to Dubai to see the show. Both said they were looking for distributors in the region.

Abraham Sahyoun of Earthquake Sound, an audio company located in California, said he wanted to see the show for himself, although he said that he wondered why none of the CES delegation who attended last year's show returned to this year's show.