Consumer Products Blog
First day of the Hong Kong Electronics Fair
By Derek Wallis - Last updated: Wednesday, April 14, 2010Today was the first day of the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and, as expected, it was busy! Having pre-registered, and received my pass through the post, It was difficult not to feel slightly smug and I walked past the huge queues. Lucky really, as I only had a half-day available today! The show takes up every single hall, mezzanine and lobby area of the old and new parts of the HK Convention and Exhibition Centre, with thousands of vendors in attendance.
I visited the ‘Hall of Fame’ – the biggest of the halls, and the showcase for Hong Kong and China’s premium consumer electronics manufacturers. There were a few brands that you would recognise (Motorola, AEG etc.), but most would be unknown if you live outside Asia. However, these are the vendors that supply product to some of the biggest retailers in the west, under the (re-badged) guise of an ‘own brand’ or ‘exclusive brand’ – you know the ones!.
In terms of technology, most of these guys lag the Japanese consumer giants – there were no 3D TVs on display, and I think this is the first year that I did not see a CRT television! Instead, these organisations focus on low-cost (you can buy a GSM phone for less than US$13 FoB); on ‘look-alike’ products – I lost count of the number of Apple, Blackberry, Bose, and Bang & Olufsen ‘inspired’ products; or sometimes (sadly) on blatant copies (I’m sure I’ve seen that three-headed shaver somewhere before…). However, for the larger organisations at least, their product is well engineered, and manufactured to a high level of quality in factories that would challenge some of the best in the west.
If you are looking for a competent OEM or ODM partner for a consumer electronics product, and don’t need to be on the bleeding edge of technology, this is the place to come! This is especially true if you are operating in the areas of: home theatre / audio-visual; mobile and home telephony; consumer IT products, personal care; kitchen appliances, and in-car audio, entertainment and navigation. Where these organisations often fail to hit the mark is with industrial design and user interfaces, and that’s where east-west design collaboration can really pay dividends.
More from the rest of the show tomorrow…
Hong Kong Electronics Fair Day 3 » Consumer Products Said,
April 15, 2010 @ 4:26 pm
[...] First day of the Hong Kong Electronics Fair [...]