In the rough economic climate of today, questions are being asked about the viability of some of the world's biggest trade shows. Take Germany's CeBIT for example - which earlier this year saw its number of exhibitors drop by a massive 25 per cent, prompting show officials to cut the length of the show for 2010.
The next major event on the tech industry's calendar is COMPUTEX - starting tomorrow, Tuesday June 2nd. So how's it looking for Taipei's annual show? Well, surprisingly good. According to a COMPUTEX spokesperson, 1,712 companies will be exhibiting at the show this year - that's a decrease of less than 1 per cent when compared to last year's 1,725 exhibitors.
The numbers come as something of a surprise - considering that both CES and CeBIT witnessed notable declines in numbers just months ago. Speaking to exhibitors today, there's an air of optimism prior to the event's launch with a number of companies openly stating that Windows 7 may help drive demand in the coming months.
What can we expect to see at the show? Well, there's bound to be a few surprises thrown up, but from what we've seen so far, this is a show where ultra-portable and ultra-thin PCs continue to run riot, and we're seeing a large number of touch-enabled all-in-one PCs, too. Stay tuned to HEXUS.net as we'll be bringing you live COMPUTEX coverage throughout the week.