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IFA closes in Berlin

September 5, 2012

Berlin's international fair for consumer electronics and household appliances has ended with record results. Organizers reported a tangible increase in visitors and orders, despite the lack of revolutionary novelties.

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A man takes a picture with his cell phone in front of a smart TV at the IFA consumer electronics fair in Berlin
Image: AP

The international fair for consumer electronics and home appliances, IFA, ended in Berlin on Wednesday with organizers appearing satisfied with its commercial outcome.

"The IFA show has extended its lead position as the sector's most important fair globally," a spokesman for the German Society for Entertainment and Communications Technology (GFU), Rainer Hecker, said in a statement. "We've once again seen excited visitors and satisfied exhibitors and traders."

IFA logged a record 240,000 visitors during the six-day show. Organizers said a record 3.8 billion euros ($4.77 billion) worth of orders were signed.

Competing with the world's most valuable firm

US consumer electronics giant Apple did not attend the show, but almost all of its rivals did, presenting products meant to compete with the iPhone or the iPad.

South Korean conglomerate Samsung announced the first mobile phone to use Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system.

Also gaining much attention at IFA were a series of hybrid gadgets combining a tablet PC and a tuck-away keyboard to make an ultra-thin notebook. As in previous years, Berlin's annual was also focused on the latest in Internet-enabled television and a special section offering top-notch household appliances.

hg/kms (dpa, Reuters)