VIA passes on CeBIT

Conventions are an expensive business, to say the least. Each year, companies spend millions of dollars to create booths at CES, E3, Computex, and CeBIT. However, it looks like this year there are some companies that are spending a little less time and money "on the circuit," including VIA Technologies.

The news comes from the personal blog of VIA's Director of International Marketing, Richard Brown. In his post, he explains that VIA has decided to not attend the convention this year, saying that the show is getting to be too much money and time for the return. Mr. Brown cites a decline in European customers (remember, this is an industry show, so we're talking about system builders) as well as the pull-out of quite a few other industry heavyweights to support his reasoning.

Though the loss of one producer at one show doesn't seem like a big deal, it does point to a growing trend - trade shows in general seem to be suffering more and more. Last year was the end of E3 as we knew it, and now it seems like similar things are starting to happen to CeBIT. Could we be witnessing the end of an era?

Let us know your thoughts on VIA's CeBIT decision and trade shows in general in our forums.