Every two years we have the big photography trade show in Germany, called Photokina. Big, as in 1200+ exhibitors and 180,000+ attendees. Heck, there are even over 6000 journalists in attendance.
This year, I'll add to the journalist count by one, as I, too, will be wandering the scene with my press pass from September 18 through 23rd.
Obviously, I'm planning coverage of the show on both the bythom and sansmirror sites. I've not yet decided how I'll manage that coverage. If I spend too much time trying to update Web sites on the scene, I have less time to see what's (and who's) there and start limiting myself to the primary camera makers (with whom I hope to be doing interviews with a number of product managers along the way; I've already got a couple scheduled and am working on more; curious, no response from Nikon so far ;~). I'm contemplating doing some video coverage at the show, but as a one-man band that would mean you wouldn't see the video results until after the show.
So for the next month or so, my sites are going to be filled with new product, strategy, differentiation, and some general future speculation, because that's what tends to happen around Photokina. Come October, you'll see those long-awaiting reviews appear as the Photokina dust settles. Finally, late in the year we'll get back to more instructional articles again.
Bottom line is this: there will be a lot happening in the next three weeks centered around product introductions. For some of it I'll be right in the middle of the mix, and trying to ferret out some of the things and details you normally don't see on other sites. While there will be important product introductions, I'm also curious to see how strategy and marketing are being promoted, to see how the companies are jockeying against one another, and what their messages to customers are.
Final note: because of some long travel legs, there will be a few days in the next four weeks where there aren't any posts. Never fear, I'm probably on a plane somewhere trying to catch up with articles that need to be posted.