- Inevitable Highlights and Lowlights: A Century of IFA
The inaugural broadcast of colored TV in Germany on August 25, 1967 encountered a hiccup. Vice Chancellor Willy Brandt made his way to the International Radio Exhibition (IFA) under the Berlin Radio Tower to kickstart the new era of TV utilizing a giant red button before live cameras.
However, it transpired that the button was merely a prop. At exactly 10:57 AM, Brandt, still in black and white, formally pressed the button. Regrettably, it was already past the point of no return. The transmitted television image was already in color. It appears a jittery technician had unwittingly activated colored TV a few seconds prematurely backstage.
Nonetheless, the inception of colored TV in Germany was not groundbreaking globally. TV viewers in the United States had been afforded the opportunity to witness colored TV images since the mid-1950s, albeit in a much less advanced NTSC standard.
Germany opted for the PAL standard, which was developed by Walter Bruch at Telefunken in Hannover, that later dominated Western Europe, Australia, as well as several countries in South America, Africa, and Asia, post the IFA debut. On the contrary, East Germany did not adopt the PAL technology from West Germany due to the Eastern Bloc's collective selection of the French SECAM system.
"Electrical Power Beam"
Initially, the inaugural Radio Exhibition in Berlin in 1924 did not revolve around television, which debuted merely 7 years later. Radio transmitters garnered the attention of the early radio enthusiasts. Their mantra was: "From mouth to ear through an electrical power beam!" The idea, once dismissed as a fanciful notion of inventive tinkerers, revealed its potential as a burgeoning industry. Brands like Braun, Grundig, ITT Schaub Lorenz, Körting, Loewe, Nordmende, Saba, and Telefunken flourished in Germany, and beyond, for decades after their modest beginnings.
The Radio Exhibition established a permanent footing in television history since 1931. At that time, TV innovator and scientist Manfred von Ardenne unveiled the first fully electronic television, which significantly shaped the evolution of TV for many years. In 1935, the German Reich Broadcasting Corporation unveiled the first public television program service globally.
"Goebbels' Nose"
With the rise of the Nazi regime, the Radio Exhibition was increasingly manipulated for political purposes. Inspired groundbreaking technologies like the "Volksempfänger VE 301" showcased at the Radio Exhibition in 1933 were personally sanctioned by Reichspropagandaleiter Joseph Goebbels and efficiently served the regime's propaganda objectives. "Goebbels' Nose" was a dual-program radio device.
With Poland's invasion and the commencement of World War II in 1939, the Radio Exhibition was suspended temporarily and resumed in 1950 as a traveling exhibition with stops in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Berlin, and Stuttgart. In 1971, the fair returned to its permanent residence under the Berlin Radio Tower as the "International Radio Exhibition" (IFA).
Global Aspirations
The fair's international ambition was accentuated in subsequent years by the increasing presence of foreign exhibitors, pertinently from Asia. Highlights were frequent: The CD was first unveiled to a broad audience at the IFA in 1981, a joint venture between the Dutch Philips Corporation and the Japanese electronics giant Sony. The CD revolutionized the music industry and paved the way for digital technology.
Two years later, the IFA 1983 introduced the first digital TV devices and showcased 3D TV for the first time as an experimental trial. While the digital system has become widespread, 3D TV has remained a niche application.
High-definition TV (HD), introduced at the IFA from 1985 onwards, garnered widespread popularity. The progressive resolution of screens - from HD to FullHD, 4K, and even 8K - has maintained significance at the IFA, although not all intermediate standards, like D2-MAC, have been successful.
In the 1990s, the Berlin fair missed the mobile communication trend, as the first two digital mobile networks in Germany and the first mass-market mobile phone from Nokia were introduced in 1992, but not at the IFA, since no trade fair was scheduled that year.
The IFA transitioned to an annual schedule in 2005, but it was too late to rival mobile-centric events like the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Deutsche Telekom, previously the main tenant of hall 21, now focuses on its own event, DigitalX, in Cologne.
Neglected Topics
Recently, the IFA has failed to tackle trend topics like electric mobility and autonomous driving, as its American counterpart, the CES in Las Vegas, has done so successfully.
However, the IFA's strategic decision in the late 2000s to incorporate household appliances - from dishwashers to coffee makers and robot vacuums - in its program has proven successful.
To avoid missing the next big thing, the IFA's organizers have pledged to focus on trend topics like artificial intelligence. AI is prevalent on computer screens and also controls numerous devices in consumer electronics and household appliances.
The European Union, being a major player in the global technology market, has shown interest in the advancements presented at the IFA. Many European companies, such as Philips from the Netherlands, have showcased their innovations at the fair, contributing to the evolution of various technologies.
Furthermore, the EU's Broadcasting Union (EBU) has collaborated with the IFA to promote digital broadcasting standards, ensuring harmony in the delivery of digital TV across European countries, including the adoption of the PAL standard in many nations.
