World IT Show losing clout without Samsung, LG

By Baek Byung-yeul

Logo for World IT Show

The World IT Show (WIS) will begin its four-day run starting Wednesday, but the country's largest tech fair is failing to appeal to tech firms as local big names such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are not taking part in the show.

Industry officials said Tuesday the WIS is losing its relevance to both domestic and overseas tech firms because the tech fair has a limited promotional effect. They also said there is little time between the CES and the WIS ― less than 100 days ― so companies don't have enough time to come up with new products and technologies.

Claiming to be a Korean version of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the annual IT show will be held at the COEX convention center in Seoul for four days but the number of participating companies is on the decline since it peaked in 2017.

The organizer said this year's show will feature 402 firms from 18 countries, a 20 percent decrease from the previous show that attracted 495 firms from 30 countries.

Samsung and LG took part in the 2018 fair but officials from the firms said they won't be joining this year's show, declining to give specific reasons. Other big names include SK Telecom, KT, Hyundai Motor and Qualcomm. Industry officials said without Samsung and LG, which account for an enormous part of the global IT industry, the show cannot be called a “world IT show” anymore.

An industry official pointed out the show is no longer effective for promoting their technologies and products. “It seems like IT companies have decided to take part in overseas exhibitions rather than joining the domestic event because they think overseas exhibitions such as the CES have a bigger promotional effect,” the official said.

Another official said it has been less than 100 days since the CES, so tech firms such as Samsung and LG have no time to prepare for the WIS in order to wow visitors there. The official added SK Telecom and KT had to join the show as they just launched their fifth generation (5G) network service for mobile devices.

When compared to COMPUTEX, a tech fair to be held in Taiwan from May 28 to June 1, it is clear that the WIS is losing competitiveness. The organizer of the Taiwan tech show recently said the fair will feature some 1,700 companies from across the world including Microsoft, Intel, NVIDIA, AMD and ASUS as well as around 400 startups.

To beef up its competitiveness, the event organizer, the Korea Association for ICT Promotion, said it has tried to provide a fair series of business meet up opportunities.