COMDEX (Computer Dealer's Exhibition) was a computer expo held in Las Vegas, Nevada, each November from 1979 to 2003. A computer expo is a Trade fair or exposition for computers and electronics Las Vegas ( Spanish: "The Meadows" is the most populous City in the state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally It was one of the largest computer trade shows in the world, usually second only to the German CeBIT, and by many accounts one of the largest trade shows in any industry sector. A trade fair (or trade show) is an exhibition organised so that companies in a specific Industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products service study CeBIT ( Ce ntrum der B üro- und I nformations' t' echnik; German for "Centre of Office and Information technology" is the The first COMDEX was held in 1979 at the MGM Grand (now Bally's), with 167 exhibitors and 3904 attendees. This article is about the first MGM Grand in Las Vegas See MGM Grand Las Vegas for the current hotel and casino Bally's Las Vegas is a Hotel and Casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada which is owned and operated by Harrah's In 1981, the first COMDEX/Spring was held in New York City. Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 The City of New York

Contents 1 Surge and decline 2 The end, and its replacement 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Surge and decline

Originally open only to those directly involved in the computer industry, COMDEX was the one show where all levels of manufacturers and developers of computers, peripherals, software, components and accessories came in direct contact with retailers, consultants, —and their competitors. For an account of the words periphery and peripheral as they are used in biology sociology politics computer hardware and other fields see the

Colloquially known as "Geek Week", COMDEX evolved into a major technical convention, with the industry making major product announcements and releases there. The word geek is a Slang term noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things A convention, in the sense of a meeting is a gathering of individuals who meet at a arid place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest Numerous small companies from around the world rose to prominence following appearance at COMDEX, and industry leaders sought opportunities to make keynote addresses. Most discussed the computer industry, history, trends and future potential. Commercial acceptance of the Linux family of operating systems got a major boost following a 1999 appearance by its creator, Linus Torvalds. Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination Linus Benedict Torvalds ( ˈtuːrvalds born December 28 1969 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish software engineer

In the late 1980s, COMDEX was opened to the public, causing an explosion in attendance, but also a dilution of COMDEX's impact on the industry and a loss of the focus which had made the show a "must-attend" event. Retailers and consultants complained that "leading edge" customers, upon whom they relied for early adoption of new technology, were buying products at "show specials" and then expecting the dealers to support those products. A consultant (from the Latin consultare means "to discuss" from which we also derive words such as consul and counsel) is a Professional

At the same time, costs of attendance ballooned with the number of attendees. Hotels as far away as Primm, 45 miles (72 km) towards the California state line, were packed even when charging several times their regular rates. Primm (often called Primm Valley, after one of its casinos is a tiny community in Clark County, Nevada, United States, primarily notable for California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Reservations for closer rooms for the following year's show were often sold out during the current show at up to several thousand dollars per night.

Hotels justified the higher prices by noting that, while COMDEX attendees saturated lodging facilities, on average they spent less money in the casinos which were the resorts' major income. A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging usually on a short-term basis A casino is in the modern sense of the word a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of Gambling activities

After the Spring 1981 show in New York City and 1982 in Atlantic City, COMDEX began regular spring shows in Atlanta, Georgia from 1983 through 1988. The City of New York Then alternated sites between Atlanta and Chicago. Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. The final Atlanta Spring COMDEX was held in 1997; the last Spring COMDEX was held in Chicago in April 2003.

The end, and its replacement

Following COMDEX Fall 1999 (in Las Vegas), organizers made major changes to their criteria for admission of media, rejecting nearly all but those who were on editorial assignment from a handful of "acknowledged" trade papers. The news media refers to the section of the Mass media that focuses on presenting current News to the public Though offered regular "public" attendance, this left hundreds of regular, long-standing press attendees from magazines and newspapers around the world with bad feelings toward the show. As press credentials were necessary to gain the level of access necessary to make the expensive trip worthwhile, most refused to go and many told vendors that they would disregard product announcements made at or in relation to COMDEX.

When other computer hardware exhibitions such as CeBIT in Germany and COMPUTEX in Taiwan continued to expand, the runaway costs and decline in quality of COMDEX had negative impacts. CeBIT ( Ce ntrum der B üro- und I nformations' t' echnik; German for "Centre of Office and Information technology" is the Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. COMPUTEX Taipei, or Taipei International Information Technology Show ( is a Computer expo held annually at the Taipei World Trade Center in Taipei Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. In addition, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the US had gained importance, and many exhibitors determined that CES was the more cost-effective show. The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES is a Trade show held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is sponsored In 2000, major companies such as IBM, Apple, and Compaq (now merged with Hewlett-Packard) decided to discontinue their involvement with COMDEX to allocate the resources more efficiently. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics Compaq Computer Corporation was an American Personal computer company founded in 1982 and is now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard.

Comdex/Fall 2001 organizers at Los Angeles-based Key3Media Group Inc. said they expected attendance to fall from the previous year's 200,000 to 150,000. They also expected the number of exhibitors to decline from 2,350 to 2,000 and the square footage of exhibitor space to slide from just over 1 million to 750,000.

In June 2004, COMDEX officially postponed the 2004 exhibition in Las Vegas due to lack of heavyweight participants. June 2004: January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September COMDEX has been discontinued and is has been officially replaced with Interop. ^[1]

Comdex was started by The Interface Group who later sold it to Japanese technology conglomerate Softbank Corp. A conglomerate is a large Company that consists of seemingly unrelated Business sections is a Japanese telecommunications and media Corporation, with operations in Broadband, fixed-line Telecommunications, E-Commerce, Internet in 1995. Softbank sold the show to Key3Media, a spin-off of Ziff Davis, in 2001. Ziff Davis Inc (ZD is an American publisher and Internet company Key3Media was dropped from the NYSE board in July 2002, when its shares dropped to pennies. The New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE) is a Stock exchange based in New York City. It went into chapter 11 in February 2003. Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the Bankruptcy laws of the United States It resurfaced as Medialive International with a cash infusion from Thomas Weisel Capital Partners, which had previously invested in the company. In November 2006, Forbes Magazine reported that United Business Media plc had purchased the events assets of MediaLive International Inc. Forbes is an American Publishing and media company Its flagship publication Forbes magazine is published bi-weekly United Business Media Limited provides business information services principally to the technology healthcare media automotive and financial services industries

The COMDEX web site is currently operated by TechWeb Networks, a United Business Media company. United Business Media Limited provides business information services principally to the technology healthcare media automotive and financial services industries And previously was operated by CMP Media LLC, publishers of InformationWeek and other leading trade papers. United Business Media Limited provides business information services principally to the technology healthcare media automotive and financial services industries InformationWeek is a multimedia brand with a weekly print magazine online site face-to-face and virtual events and research CMP notes that a 2004 survey with nearly 3,500 respondents in the computer industry showed that 75% preferred a single, large industry trade show rather than smaller, segment-focused shows. 88% were more likely to buy products which they had come into contact with at those shows, and more preferred Las Vegas as a venue than all other locations combined. Las Vegas ( Spanish: "The Meadows" is the most populous City in the state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally Over 70% felt that COMDEX was the most efficient way to meet with vendors and see products. ^[2]

See also

• CeBIT
• COMPUTEX

References

External links

• COMDEX website

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