Gossip

IBM digital broadcasting lost in background noise

Let's hope that IBM's announcement at IBC today - "IBM Turns Broadcasting On" reaches the media by a technology better than a press conference.

The company cleverly procured its very own conference hall. It's an enclosed area in Hall 2 of Amsterdam's RAI centre. Enclosed, that is, with a seven foot chip-board wall. No roof. The hall in which it is located, however, is several thousand square feet of seething humanity.

Our picture shows the (un?)fortunate latecomers, queueing to get in ...

... and if you are careless and click on the picture, you may get to see a four megabyte video clip of some hapless flack trying to speak and some hopeless hacks trying to listen.

The room was cramped, small, and drowned out by din. I have literally no idea at all what they were trying to talk about.

They gave media representatives a press package. It included a half dozen or so press announcements. Not a single one has showed up yet on the IBM web site. I have a choice of typing it all in, or shrugging my shoulders and moving on to my Motorola meeting ...

Good, this publicity stuff, isn't it!