October 2008

The semiconductor industry book-to-bill ratio (value of orders taken vs. goods shipped out of the door) was 0.75 last month – so the much vaunted downturn has hit our industry. On October 9th, investment giant Sequoia Capital called 100 Silicon Valley CEOs to a ‘mandatory’ conference in Palo Alto, CA. Sequoia then bombarded its audience with a message about the need for new thinking, cutting costs, scrapping budgets, conserving cash.

However, a reported comment from Doug Leone, general partner at the firm, was interesting to hear, “to survive this downturn you need an aggressive PR and communications strategy.” Remember, this is a message coming from someone who’s very smart (investor in Google, Microchip and countless other success stories) and who wants to see a return on his investments.

We believe in Leone’s philosophy. That’s why we’ll be working flat out to help our clients get their messages out there over the coming months, and why we’ve just opened our US office in Palo Alto to help them do so.

If you stick your head in the sand, the recession will hit you hard. If you redouble your efforts to build your brand, create new opportunities and win new business, you will at least have some chance of mitigating the problem.

For those among us who have not been living a hermit existence, away from newspapers, TV, radio and, well, anyone else for that matter, it’s hard to escape the looming economy worries. The FT, NY Times, Les Echos and the Japanese Mainichi have all featured the global crisis on the front cover recently. And several industries are feeling the pinch.

So much has changed in the past months, at such a pace, that even those with a keen eye on Robert Preston’s BBC blog cannot help but feel left behind in the hours between news bulletins.

But it’s not all bad news according to Future Horizons. The analyst house has just released its monthly semiconductor report, ‘Will there ever be light at the end of the chip market tunnel?’. And, so says the report, the industry is holding strong.

In an email to PMN, the Future Horizons’ CEO, Malcolm Penn, stated that, “the chip industry continues to march on.” The statistics show IC units are up 9.3 per cent on August 2007 figures and ASPs, although down on last year’s figures, are bouncing back to grow more than 2.2 per cent versus last month.

But this will not last says Malcolm, “in short the YTD chip market has kept trucking along; not for much longer though.

“Were it not for the now disastrous economic big picture, our chip forecast message would still be positive and strong. Unfortunately it is not. Once again the long-awaited industry recovery has had the rug pulled out from under it feet.

“Watch out, there’s a 2009 recession about ... and there will be blood spilt on the market road ahead.”

Publitek Media News has heard rumours of change coming in from the Far East. It seems that the widely respected Japanese magazine group, Nikkei Business Publications is set to make some major alterations.

Not much information is available as yet, but the information given to PMN by Nikkei’s Daniel Moravanszky outlines an “announcement concerning the future of the Nikkei Electronics family.” Intriguing.

PMN is assuming that it’s not as drastic as it sounds. But still, it sounds ominous. The publisher will be making the announcement on the first day of Electronica.

To see what all the hype is about, or to get a free drink, come to Saal 2 on the ground floor at ICM. The event kicks off at 4:30pm on the 11th with the presentations beginning at 5pm.

Oh, and please RSVP to Daniel@nikkeibp.co.uk

It’s hard to believe that the Elektra awards have only been going for six years. A year in the electronics industry simply isn’t fully complete without them.

The event takes place on Monday the 10th November, the eve of Electronica and may result in a few hangovers and cancelled 9am meetings on the Tuesday. The organisers have proclaimed that attendees will, “kick off your Electronica week with a celebration of excellence.”

If nothing else, the dinner and champagne reception is “the best networking and entertainment night of the week” and should help to take your mind off the impending mayhem and chaos that is the Electronica tradeshow.

Head to the Elektra Awards website to book one of the few remaining tickets.

It seems Findlay Publications has been on the lookout for new talent to join the magazine producer’s ranks.

Chris Shaw has left the Sussex based publishing house, MMG, and headed north to join the Dartford based Findlay. The two magazine firms may only be thirty-five miles away but, through London traffic, that’s a big commute. Having previously written for Electronics Sourcing and Electronic Assembly, Chris is quickly getting to grips with his new remit on New Electronics.

And Findlay hasn’t stopped there. The company has also raided Informa, printers of Mobile Communications International and Cable and Satellite Europe, to grab Ed Tranter for group publisher of the Findlay design group, which includes New Electronics, Eureka and European Automotive Design.

It seems that the looming recession is no longer just a fear. The last one hit the publishing industry in 2001 and hit it hard as advertising budgets went to the wall. This was especially true in the telecoms sector, a fact that made working for Marconi’s PR agency rather nerve wracking at the time.

However, the publishing world is now a very different place and one piece of news from Global Sources eMedia’s EE Times India has unveiled good news for the online publishing sector. And that news is, “traffic is growing.”

EE Times India has reported stats soaring 150 per cent year on year. That’s 425,706 unique views in one month alone. As reported last month, the publisher has also launched an online called The File, which uses the full multimedia capabilities of the web to deliver news stories to Indian engineers and a further datasheets database to boot.

Will the online strength of EE Times India and the new online publications lead to the publisher cutting printing costs and go solely online? Well, there’s no suggestion of this as yet, but in an era when even a major daily national newspaper is “relaxed” about the progression to online only – it could be a way to streamline without losing staff.

In the US, David Morrison has recently stepped down as editor in chief of Power Electronics Technology. His departure makes way for Sam Davis, who will be serving as interim editor in chief. As David comments, “Sam is a former editor of the magazine and seasoned industry veteran. I know the magazine will be in good hands with Sam.”

That said, someone should really tell Power Electronics Technology that David is still up on its website as the head honcho and Sam is nowhere to be seen on its contact page.

If you need to reach Sam, the email is sam.davis@penton.com

Please excuse the title, it’s a bad pun and I’ll try not to let it happen again. It should probably read Lehmhofer gets Funkschau but that doesn’t have the same punning effect. Anyway, puns aside, the German publishing group, Weka, has just hired Ernst Lehmhofer to head its professional communications technology titles, Funkschau. Lehmhofer brings 15 years of print media, PR and internet experience and begins on the 1st of November, taking control of the complete Funkschau offering, both paper and online.

Last month PMN reported on Tim Fryer’s quest to find a technical editor at EPD and stop the man working himself into an early grave, as he produces both EPD and Electronics Manufacture and Test.

Sadly, PMN has heard that the publication was let down at the last minute and as such is still on the look out for a talented writer. As per last month, direct experience in business to business publishing isn’t important. A track record in technical writing, therefore proving the ability to write accurately and fluently will be an asset.

If you are interested, fire off an e-mail to tim.fryer@imlgroup.co.uk

As this month’s edition of PMN is being put to bed, one of my favourite technology PR and journalist gatherings took place at the swanky Village Underground venue in Shoreditch, the Flackenhacks.

At the time of writing, 150 of the UK’s great and the good were signed up, including yours truly, to attend the second annual event. Last year’s awards included the best hack, best flack (PR) and freeloader of the year.

It has to be said that the organisers, Fullrun, did an amazing job, especially as the past year has seen Spin Bunny, TWL and PR Business go to the wall for various reasons.

The industry, on both sides, appears to have grown less fearful about the new media vs. last year’s seeming complete lack of comprehension from all and sundry. Instead, the evening had a much more confident feel to it and terms such Blogs, Vlogs, Twitter and Flikr all seem old hat.

That said, with the BBC’s dot.life’s renowned Rory Cellan-Jones recently asking if the blog is dead and Wired’s Paul Boutin suggesting that blogs are “so 2004” now Flikr, Facebook and Twitter are here, the question of how to move with the new mediums is possibly coming back to bite us.

Highlight awards included Danny Bradbury receiving best freelancer award. Gary Flood beating Giles Corren for rudest hack. And, of course, O2 winning mess up of the year for calling Register readers “a bunch of techie nerds”

Photos of everyone from Michael Dempsey to the eponymous Wadds can be found on the events Flikr stream.

It seems Mike Green is a master at burning the candle at both ends. Not satisfied with editing both EPN and ECN, Mike has found time to research and write the difficult second book, Worlds in Collision.

According to the writer, the book looks at the “discord between technological advance and Christian belief. It details the disparate viewpoints taken by scientists and men of the cloth, and the, often, bloody outcomes.”

The 324 page book examines all the major flashpoints between scientific and religious doctrines; from the imprisonment of Galileo right through to the ‘Monkey Trials’.

Topics include the torching of the Benedictine monk Giordano Bruno for suggesting that civilisations might exist on other planets, and that these might have their own deities and the brutal murder of Michael Servetus for taking a view that the heart was merely a pump. With such macabre subjects, it’s not Jilly Cooper-esque escapism – and thank God for that.

Green examines the torture of Franciscan friar Roger Bacon, for trying to explain the worldly sources of certain miracles. The removing of a priest’s tongue, for questioning Christian doctrine on the origins of humankind, also seems a trifle harsh.

Since it wouldn’t be a true plug without a sales link… World’s in Collision is available through most major stockists and its Amazon page (priced £9.99) is here.