Comdex: Reflections on Relevance at Tech’s Big Umbrella
TECHNOLOGY
by Andrew Simons
“You can almost see the tumbleweeds,” said one cabbie, shaking his head, as he pulled into the Las Vegas Convention Center for Comdex earlier this month. “It’s dead.”
Disgruntled with a morning of no fares, the cabbie hastily dropped me off to join a line of cabs waiting for people to come out. The scene hinted at what others later would confirm about this year’s annual tech party in Las Vegas: stark contrast to years past.
Instead of a line of people waiting for cabs, there was a line of cabs waiting for people. Instead of reporters waiting to use computers in the media room, there were computers waiting to be used by reporters. Instead of beautiful women luring hapless attendees to check out a booth, there’s, well, you get the picture.
Comdex simply has gotten too big for itself. The “everything technology under one roof” approach, which made the conference a must-attend in years past, has become outmoded as the tech industry has evolved.
The line between nebulous, arcane technology and everyday products such as refrigerators, telephones and Walkmans is blurring. Techies call it “convergence,” as technology improves and simply becomes part of once low-tech products.
Early on, routers, switches and hubs may have been stuff people comfortably associated under the broad umbrella of “tech.” But now those devices more aptly are considered pieces used to speed up aging communications networks so people can talk to wives, husbands and children via video on wireless phones.
Chips that once powered personal computers used by geeks in the ’80s now run cool toys such as the newly minted Xbox or sexy handheld computers,consumer devices by any other name.
To be sure, Comdex has a categorization problem. Should a home networking router by Irvine’s Linksys Group Inc. be part of a home-networking display or stand alone as a consumer device?
For me, I can see that buying a Linksys router to connect computer gear in my house could be considered home electronics. Yet I also can see a company that does nothing but install home networks using Linksys gear as a part of its product line, making the independent consideration of a Linksys router almost irrelevant.
Aristotle once told students at his school in Athens that an item gets its name by its ultimate function. Thus, it’s not even relevant to discuss an item as a standalone thing unless that thing is the end function.
Who cares about a human cell by itself? Its only relevance is how it contributes to making a person. Who cares about a marketing department by itself? Its only relevance is how it contributes to the top line of a corporation. And who cares about a wireless networking chip by Irvine’s Broadcom Corp. by itself? Its only relevance is how it works as part of wireless network.
So why organize a tech exhibition like Comdex when what’s really relevant is how all these tech parts contribute to their respective end products?
Part of the problem is that Comdex has aged. It was here that Steve Jobs, Apple Computer Inc. co-founder and chief executive, unveiled the quirky Apple II and the polished Apple Lisa (which later became the Macintosh).
It was here that Microsoft Corp.’s Bill Gates, while unveiling Windows 3.1 in a keynote speech, helplessly watched it crash on stage.
The original idea of Comdex,where engineers and others could get together in a big hall and in seedy bars on the Las Vegas strip to bounce ideas off each other,is gone.
The bouncing of ideas now is done under lock and key in the bowels of R & D; departments at tech’s largest companies. The seedy bars are replaced by glitzy, marketing de-partment-inspired parties at exclusive Vegas nightclubs.
Well, except for this year.
Comdex 2001 had about 120,000 people attending this year, which still qualifies as a big show. But really, with the most popular hotels registering a mere 40% occupancy, casino bars sitting empty and blackjack dealers twiddling their thumbs, this year’s Comdex wasn’t what it used to be.
Even this year’s popular Spencer Katt party, held at the MGM Grand’s Studio 54, felt like a second-rate club in Des Moines, Iowa.
“This just isn’t our show,” said one person working the booth for Costa Mesa-based storage networking company Emulex Corp. “We’ll do other shows that are more appropriate for us at other times.”
Aware of criticism, Comdex organizers have tried to make the show more relevant. The results can be seen in the categorization of companies on the show floor under banners like “USB Pavilion” and “Information Security and Biometropolis.”
But consider if you’re a small biometrics security company that can only afford a small booth in Biometropolis.
From there, you’re watching all the attendees sucked away by Microsoft’s flashy Xbox display. Why not go to a more focused show,where you’re relevant because of how your product helps to make for a comprehensive security system,and bypass the expensive Comdex circus?
Perhaps Comdex could be summed up by the departure of a past attendee.
“We’re looking toward the Western Cable Show in Anaheim,” Broadcom spokesman Bill Blanning said.
