Berlin: A short visit at the IFA 2014

VIDEO: Two days ago I had a short break in Berlin and I visited the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA), the world’s largest consumer electronics trade fair. During my stopover I just had 3 hours to walk through the exhibition halls. Here are my video impressions that I made with my mobile-phone (sorry, a bit shaky sometimes…):

IFA is one of Germany’s oldest trade shows. The fair attracts more than a thousand exhibitors from around the globe and about 200,000 visitors every year. IFA is the main meeting place for key retailers, buyers, and experts from consumer industry and media. It is THE global trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances. Prominent exhibitors include Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Philips and many others. Exhibitors present their latest products and innovations for TV, Video, Home Cinema, Media, Games, Navigation, Mobile and Internet Television, and and and…

History

The IFA began in 1924 as the “Große deutsche Funkausstellung” (“Great German Radio Exhibition”) featuring mainly radio-related products. It was held annually until 1939 and was used to showcase many breakthroughs in electronics and media technology. The IFA did not take place between 1940 – 1949. It was revived in 1950 under the title “Funkausstellung” as a bi-annual event rotating between Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart, returning to Berlin in 1970 where it was relaunched under its current name. Although visitor numbers have fallen from the peak of over 500,000 in 1991, beginning with 2005 the IFA has returned to being an annual event.

The history books recall the IFA 95 as being the first real multimedia trade fair. In the years afterwards, the exhibitions to follow emphatically followed in its footsteps and demonstrated that the leading CE trade fair had now become a comprehensive display of the consumer electronics industry, but also of telecommunications and parts of the IT industry.