How tech went Gaga in Hanover

CeBIT 2010 A lack of western promise

The old days are under review.  A new order is forming. And it's at 90 degrees, compass point East.

It's not that CeBit is dying. Far from it. Much business was done here, much information exchanged, palms pressed to palm and cheeks to cheek.

New products were shown off quietly, if not in abundance. Quiet trends are seen emerging, based as ever, on mobile communications, now on multi-function, on touch and tablet.

There were grumblings around the Halle about stay-away companies. Mobile companies, it seems, prefer Barcelona's Mobile World Congress, which is leeching attention away from the the biggest IT show on Earth.

And like the IT industry in general, the momentum is moving eastwards. Will this year's Computex in Taipei finally prize the title of world's biggest trade fair from CeBIT's grasp? It's not unlikely. It's certainly more a question when rather than if.