What was once the biggest event of the tech year is going into limbo. Comdex 2004 has been canceled, with information technology industry leaders saying they will take part in an advisory board set up to reshape the convention. Analysts said Comdex might have been victimized by the growth of consumer electronics- and specialist-oriented IT trade shows.
"In the year since we assumed the responsibility of managing the technology industry's largest annual event, we have sought to reposition Comdex and rebuild the market's trust," said Robert W. Priest-Heck, president and chief executive of MediaLive, which has managed Comdex since 2002. He added that they could have run a profitable Comdex this year, but not without the "broader support" of the leading tech businesses.
"In order to give the advisory board the time and opportunity necessary to partake in the redesign of Comdex," he said, "we thought it best to postpone this year's show." But MediaLive also said they hope Comdex, which has a deal with the Las Vegas Convention Center through 2007, could return as soon as 2005, depending on how the advisory board drums up support.
Comdex's history is impressive enough, beginning with the Computer Dealers Exposition of 1979 and taking off in earnest when Bill Gates first demonstrated Microsoft DOS 2.0 at the 1983 show and gave his first keynote speech.
"We firmly believe the $915 billion information technology industry needs an event where the leading technology companies can speak to their global customers on neutral ground, buyers can compare all their options at one time, and thought leaders can discuss and debate the industry's future," said Comdex vice president Eric Faurot in another statement. "The participation on the Advisory Board of the IT industry's leading companies and thought leaders demonstrates that the industry feels it needs Comdex as well. We are anxious to work with the industry to build the best event."
Comdex has sagged in the past few years, down from a peak of over 200,000 attendees at one point, while competitive shows like the Consumer Electronics Show have grown with companies like Hewlett-Packard and Dell pushing products promising bigger profits than personal computers, which CNET calls "largely… a commodity business."
But Faurot also said Comdex's problems were rooted in the dot-com boom and bust, when the show's former owners alienated exhibitors with pricey floor space options and general unmanageability. He admitted that Comdex became too identifiable with the dot-com excesses, and rebuilding trust in Comdex would likely take time.
However, if Samsung Electronics senior vice president for strategic marketing Peter Weefald is any indicator, Comdex may have a future yet. "In the one year that MediaLive has had to rebuild Comdex into a focused IT event they've made great strides," he said when Comdex 2004's postponement was announced. "Comdex has always been a critical channel destination and we firmly believe that our industry needs an event of its own – Comdex is it."
