CeBIT - Any predictions?

[Spudson]

PocketGPS staff - any predictions for CeBIT? From the website http://www.cebit.com, I see that every one and their dog will be there!!

There've been a few predictions across the forums (re. TomTom announcement), but have you any "inside news"? If not, I for one, would be interested to read how you'll be covering the event?

Would you be able to post?

Cheers

S

[lbendlin]

Inside news by their very nature have to "stay inside"...

But we'll have to full team on site and will be reporting live. Whatever interesting we see at CeBit will make it into the news section at the speed of, ah, a GPS TTFF ? ;-)
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[Spudson]

Nice one Lutz!

I'll keep a watchful eye on progress.

As you may have seen from my earlier posts, I'm currently in the mood for splashing some cash on a sat-nav solution. So, the latest news will be gratefully appreciated.

Can you tell me though, if I wanted advice on a particular set-up, what's the best way to ask?

Many thx.

S

[lbendlin]

The beginners forum is the best place for this kind of questions
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

[Spudson]

Thx - I'll make sure that's where I post!!

Cheers,

S

[MikeB]

My predictions for CeBIT:

Rob will get drunk first, closely followed by Steve. Darren and I will last most of the night. The dark horse is Lutz, after all we will be drinking gassy German beer.



Or did you want to know what was happening on the technology side?
_________________
Mike Barrett

[Spudson]

At the risk of going "off-topic", are you sure you can all handle "european beers"!

Surely the challenge will be to quaff the German "Braunbier" (I think this is how you spell it) - imo an obnoxious concoction that should be consigned to the sewer - but someone must like it, otherwise they wouldn't sell it ;-)

On the technology side, does the PGW staff know of any inside news, that they can tempt us with - the type of "watch this space" announcement?

S

[Darren]

Hmm, that's not how I recall events last year Mike! However I can reliably predict that Rob will be last to surface every morning!

Sadly guys, anything we can talk about we have already mentioned but you can be sure there will be plenty of stuff to get you all ooohing and ahhing once we get the go-ahead to spill the beans.
_________________
Darren Griffin

[lbendlin]

[DavidW]

Just to amplify Darren's post, Non Disclosure Agreements are common in the IT industry.

Usually anyone to whom a company wishes to grant access to pre-release information on a product, be it an early version of the actual product or just information about that product, has to sign an agreement that they will not disclose the pre-release information. Some NDAs forbid you from even mentioning that you're in non-disclosure with the company.

I once had a job where the primary NDA had twice as many pages as the contract and I wasn't allowed in one room of the building until I had signed the NDA. The 'secret' equipment in that room was physically disguised as a current model, too - it was only when you switched it on that you realised it wasn't what it said on the box! When an NDAed user wasn't actively using that equipment, it was kept switched off.


The reason for NDAs is obvious - commercial confidentiality, also, in the case of publically quoted companies, insider trading rules.


To give a simple example, if it became known that company A were going to release a PND (this is a generic term for devices like TomTom Go and Navman ICNs - Personal Navigation Device) that had a built in can chiller at CeBIT, one of their competitors we'll call company B would have time to prepare an PND that had a built in can chiller and chocolate bar holder, or at least get far enough along to be able to announce their product at CeBIT and have it available shortly afterwards.

Buyers may decide in this case that the chocolate bar holder was a "must have" feature. In this scenario, company A had spent a lot of money developing their can chiller for no payback.

On the other hand, if there had been no leak and company A had released their product first, company B would have to break into the established market for PNDs with can chillers into which company B by persuading buyers that they really did want the chocolate bar holder.

This example is deliberately stupid so as not to invent something that is announced at CeBIT - though if anyone is thinking of releasing a combined PND and snacks machine, my apologies. Maybe I've got chilled beer on the brain, but I'm not going to CeBIT with Pocket GPS World, nor do I drink alcohol (for medical reasons). As the team know, mine's a lemonade.


NDAs are used for all sorts of reasons - including allowing people to test products and feed back to the company, and to allow journalists to produce copy that's "ready to go" as soon as the embargo is lifted. Both these activities benefit the companies - they can get valuable feedback and debugging assistance, also precious press coverage for their new products as soon as they've announced them.


I've signed many NDAs in my time, to do with software and hardware testing and development. For example, one allowed me access to a radically redesigned Windows application some nine months before that version was first released as a public beta, and to discuss my thoughts, feelings and experiences directly with the development team by email.

Much as it's nice to have early access to products, it comes with a cost. It's usual for early test versions to have serious bugs or important features missing. Backing up, restoring backups, moving data around, reformatting and the like can become routine operations with some pre-release products, and the frequency of these chores during testing often bears no relation to the final product. Feeding back to the company or companies involved often takes a lot of time, too.


I suspect CeBIT will bring some interesting announcements - I'll be watching the reports from the Pocket GPS Team just like everyone else.



David

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!