October 2005

As you’ll see in our lead story this month, publishers of electronics publications in Germany are getting very heated about readership research. I think it’s a pity, not only because of the legal fees they’ll incur, but also because today the research findings are of minimal use to most well-informed media planners. There are two reasons for this. First, even if the research methodology and findings are faultless, they are very general in nature and will not necessarily be applicable to the specific markets being targeted by advertisers. Second, internet-based surveying techniques mean that it has never been cheaper and easier to carry out research that is accurately targeted at specific markets and individuals. Even using professional market research firms such surveys cost just a few thousand dollars and can be completed in under a week. At one time, general surveys of engineers and buyers in the electronics market had their place and provided useful additional information to media planners. Research costs were too high for individual companies to undertake such work on their own. Today, they are a poor substitute for accurately targeted research into the markets that are most important to advertisers. And certainly not worth the cost and effort of a legal battle.

Publish-industry-Verlag has taken court action against rival publisher WEKA and an injunction has been issued by Hamburg District Court that forbids the use the El ELFA 2005 survey for “business-competitive purposes”. Publish-industry alleges that the survey, which is widely used by WEKA to promote its electronics titles (Markt & Technik, Elektronik and Design & Elektronik), violates generally accepted opinion research principles and that some of the calculations performed in connection with the publications surveyed are incorrect. In response, WEKA has filed an objection to the injunction and CEO Kurt Skupin stands by the survey, “the assertions made against the EL ELFA 2005 are, from our viewpoint, totally unfounded,” he said. We’ll keep you posted with developments, of course.

CONTACTS
publish-industry: Hanno Hardt, vice president print operations, h.hardt@publish-industry.net
WEKA: Kurt Skupin, CEO, kskupin@elektroniknet.de

Bill Schweber has moved to EE Times to take on the role of specialist editor for analog/mixed signal technology. He replaces Steve Ohr who left recently to become an analyst at Gartner. Bill leaves EDN where he was Executive Editor.

CONTACT
Editorial: Bill Schweber, bschweber@cmp.com

Electronic Engineering Times-Asia and Gartner Inc.’s annual joint study, Design Trends & EDA Tools: Mainland China & Taiwan, shows that 73 percent of surveyed designers are working with 0.18-micron or smaller designs in ASIC development—up 21 percentage points from last year. For standard IC projects, 52 percent of engineers work with 0.18 micron or finer line widths—up 10 percent points from last year. More than 600 designers in mainland China and Taiwan took part in the study. The survey also shows that 66 percent of Taiwan respondents and 69 percent of mainland respondents use four iterations or less in ASIC development – up 16 and 11 percentage points respectively from 2004. Thirty-five percent of designers cited consumer electronics as their key focus. Other main application segments included communication products, 19 percent; computers and computer peripherals, 15 percent; and industrial controls, 16 percent. Automotive products was a key application segment for 8 percent of this year’s respondents - up from 3 percent last year. Complete survey results are available at EE Times-Asia online at www.eetasia.com.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Vivek Nanda, executive editor, EE Times Asia, vnanda@globalsources.com
Advertising US: Craig Pitcher, cpitcher@globalsources.com
Advertising Asia: Bennie Hui, bennie@globalsources.com
Web: http://www.eetasia.com

Electronic Engineering Times-China and Electronics Supply & Manufacturing-China have released the China Industry Outlook: Consumer Electronics report, which provides in-depth analysis of China’s consumer electronics manufacturing industry and examines semiconductor demand and supply and design challenges. The report shows mainland China production of DVD players, LCD TVs and other consumer electronics is expected to reach US$67.3 billion value in 2005 - up 22 percent from 2004. TV manufacturers alone are projecting their component imports will reach US$1.13 billion in 2005 - up 15 percent from 2004, while DVD player makers expect to import US$1.3 billion worth of components - up 14 percent, says the report. The latest semiconductor industry association figures further confirm the shift of manufacturing to Asia. According to their statistics the Americas region fell back 2.1 percent to $3.33 billion in August compared with the same month a year before. On the same basis Europe declined 4.5 percent to $2.97 billion and Japanese sales collapsed by 6.6 percent to $3.53 billion. At the same time Asia-Pacific region, which includes China, South Korea and Taiwan, enjoyed 20.4 percent growth compared with August 2004.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Vivek Nanda, executive editor, EE Times Asia, vnanda@globalsources.com
Advertising US: Craig Pitcher, cpitcher@globalsources.com
Advertising Asia: Bennie Hui, bennie@globalsources.com
Web: http://www.eetasia.com

Reed reckons that the market for wireless sensors and networks will grow ten-fold in the next five years and become worth $1 billion by 2009. A gathering of experts in the field, dubbed the International Congress or Wireless Sensors and Networks 2005, takes place on 20-21 December 2005 at the Novotel Paris Vaugirard, France. The organisers claim that 25 companies are already signed up and there will be presentations on both the technology challenges and applications of wireless sensors from leading experts in the field.

CONTACT
Sponsorship and marketing: Hervé Rivières, chrivieres@reedbusiness.fr
Web: http://www.icws.com

The contents www.ilb2b.it, a leading web site focused on electronics and technology, are now also available through an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed for delivery of news in real time. The site claims 1,930,437 page views and 31,193 average monthly visits from July 04 to June 05. This new feed syndicates the title, index and URL of all news published for the publishers four channels: automation, electronics, mechanical engineering and environment/chemical engineering. In order to help its readers to make use of the service, ilb2b.it has made available a FeedReader release, customized with site’s content. The software can be downloaded at the Url: www.ilb2b.it\feedreader.zip. The service is free and no registration is required.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Gianluca Ricci, gianluca.ricci@bp.vnu.com
Advertising: Guiseppe de Gasperis, giuseppe.degasperis@bp.vnu.com

http://www.mobilehandsetdesignline.com is the latest vertical site offering from EE Times. It does what it says in the title!

CONTACTS
Editorial: Rob Keenan, editor-in-chief online and design microsites, rkeenan@cmp.com
Advertising: Patrick Flynn, pflynn@cmp.com

The Electronic Design China web site will be up in January, ahead of the forthcoming launch of the print publication in March. Yorbe Zhang will be editor-on-chief and the other members of team include managing editor Jake Chen, assistant section editor Ellie Zhang and senior sub-editor Bellinda Shi. Drawing on content from Electronic Design in the US, the site will launch with over 1,800 articles, rising to over 4000 by March, say the publishers.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Yorbe Zhang, editor-in-chief, yzhang@globalsources.com
Advertising Asia: Bennie Hui, bennie@globalsources.com
Advertising US: Brandon Smith, bsmith@globalsources.com
Advertising Europe: Alastair Swift, alastair@asa-media.com

Following a number of changes at CMP’s electronics group in Europe, Patrick Flynn is to take overall sales responsibility for the publisher’s print and web titles. He becomes vice-president of sales on January 1st 2006. Brussels is now the headquarters for all CMP’s electronics publishing activities. Sales veteran Tony Johnson leaves the group next year.

CONTACT
Patrick Flynn, vice president sales, CMP Electronic Group Europe, pflynn@cmp.com

Having previously been distributed as a supplement to Electronics Express Europe, Embedded Systems Europe becomes a stand-alone publication from the January/February 2006 issue. This issue will have a bonus distribution at the Embedded World Exhibition in Nuremberg. Together with its sister publication Embedded System Design in the USA, the publishers claim that the title offers advertisers the largest global readership of electronics engineers involved in embedded design.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Colin Holland, editor, colin.holland@btinternet.com
Advertising: Andre Rousselot, aroussel@cmp.com
Web: http://www.embedded.com

Electronic Design has been launched by Global Sources and will be circulated to 40,000 design engineers, says the publisher. It will include content from Penton’s US edition of Electronic Design plus increasing local content as the publication develops.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Yorbe Zhang, editor-in-chief, yzhang@globalsources.com
Advertising Asia: Bennie Hui, bennie@globalsources.com
Advertising US: Brandon Smith, bsmith@globalsources.com
Advertising Europe: Alastair Swift, alastair@asa-media.com

Hong Kong publisher ACT has teamed up with the UK’s Institute of Physics to launch Wireless China under license from Wireless Europe. Editions for both mainland China and Taiwan are being produced. Press information is preferred in Simplified Chinese.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Winson Xing, winsonx@actintl.com.hk
Advertising: Adonis Mak, adonism@actintl.com.hk
Web: http://www.actintl.com.hk

ACT, publishers of Portable Design China magazine, will run two conferences in China during November, both of which are also supported by Penwell. The 3G Handset Design Conference will take place in Pudon on November 8, 2005 and The Power Management Conference is in Shenzhen on November 17, 2005.

CONTACT
Web: http://www.pdcevent.com.cn/3G/3g_eng.htm
Web: http://www.pdcevent.com.cn/PMC/pmc_eng.htm

Starting with the November 2005 issue, EEPN will have a new size and format. Its editorial content will also change to include tutorials, reference design breakdowns, product comparisons, design information and expanded product write-ups. Publishers Penton aim to include articles that are “a quick read, more informative and lively”. Coupled with the revamped print publication is the introduction of a digital version dubbed EEPN2. EEPN2 will offer expanded editorial with regular features including Tradeshow Wrap, Circuit of the Month, Book Reviews and In The Lab. Pushed out to EEPN subscribers via email, EEPN2 can deliver white papers, audiocasts and webcasts, product briefings and any existing digital promotional piece for advertisers. The first issue of EEPN2 will be released in January 2006.

CONTACTS
Editorial: Joe Desposito, editor-in-chief, jdesposito@penton.com
Advertising: Tom Morgan, publisher, tmorgan@penton.com

Reed Electronics Group publisher, Alexander Teetaert left the company on 26th October. His publishing responsibilities are taken over by publishing director, Martin Savery, and worldwide advertising sales management for both publications will be handled by UK-based Nick Walker.

CONTACT
Editorial: Mike Green, editor, mgreen@reedbusiness.fr
Advertising: Nick Walker, sales manager, nwalker@reedbusiness.fr

Upcoming seminars from London’s IEE include: ‘The 4th International Seminar on Advances in Carbon Electronics’ at the UK headquarters on November 18, 2005; ‘EMC Above 1GHz’ at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, UK on November 29, 2005; and ‘The 5th IEE Conference on Adaptive Signal Processing’ to be held from March 1-3, 2006 at the City Inn Hotel, Birmingham, UK.

CONTACT
Information: Roger King, rogerking@iee.org.uk
Web: http://www.iee.org