Organizers pull plug on CeBIT America 2005

IDG News Service - Although the CeBIT America Web site continues to enthusiastically suggest that visitors "Save the date!" for the 2005 edition of the IT trade show next June in New York, organizers yesterday announced that the event has been canceled.
"Though regrettable, this is the correct business decision," Joachim Schafer, president of show organizer Hannover Fairs USA Inc. said in a statement. "CeBIT America is a terrific event, but it has not generated enough revenue to justify a third year."
CeBIT America officials were unavailable to further discuss the announcement, but the statement seemed to attempt to fend off one likely area of questions, saying that rather than being a setback, the decision to cancel the show "is a reflection of a changing high-tech industry as well as the overall U.S. economy."
The demise of CeBIT America was announced just six weeks after MediaLive International Inc. pulled the plug on this year's Comdex trade show, citing lack of support from major IT vendors as the reason. But attendance at that show had waned in recent years, with fewer key industry announcements made during the Las Vegas event.
While the CeBIT America show won't go on, Hannover Fairs USA "will continue to look for opportunities that focus on well-defined vertical markets and user groups," Schafer said in the statement. International CeBIT events in China, Australia and Turkey are successful and won't be affected by the decision in the U.S., the statement said. The company's Hanover, Germany-based flagship event, which is the world's largest IT trade show, also apparently will be unaffected.
Hannover Fairs USA, based in Princeton, N.J., is the U.S. subsidiary of Deutsche Messe AG.

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