Field Report: Taipei, Taiwan

The recently concluded Computex Taipei 2003 is the largest trade show in Asia. Whiningdog.net had the pleasure of stopping by the massive expo and checking out some of the latest and greatest trends to come out of Asia.

Computex Taipei 2003 was held at the World Trade Center complex in Eastern downtown Taipei, Taiwan. The sprawling show actually spilled out to cover 3 buildings. We only had a chance to view the main building. The WTC Taipei sits in the shadow of the massive 101 floor tower of the yet to be completed new WTC building. It will be the largest free-standing skyscraper in the world when it is finished.

Inside the main building was a literal bee-hive of vendors and trade show attendees. Everyone was bilingual or tri-lingual and a mix of English, Mandarin and Taiwanese permeated the show floor. Bright displays and even some booth babes littered the area. Quite a contrast from the ghost town that was PC Expo at the Javits.

One of the big exports of Taiwan are LCD's and those were in rampant display (pardon the pun). There were literally hundreds of manufacuters- from OEMs to finished product - everywhere from 9 inch embedded units to 40 inch plasma displays. CRT's were almost non-existent on the show floor.

In addition, USB keychain hard-drives were in abundance. Many manufacturers touted "combo" USB drives which were mated with digital cameras, MP3 players and even massage balls. There were also a spate of case manufacturers (both well-known and obscure) and peripheral makers.

Comments can be posted here.