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The show must go on

IFA 2020 is cancelled but will continue online in some capacity

The show will go on, despite the German government's restrictions preventing any events with more than 5,000 participants.
Muhammad Jarir Kanji

IFa BannerSource: IFA

What you need to know

  • In a series of new tweets, the organizers of IFA 2020 announced that the show's physical event has been cancelled due to Germany's restrictions on social gatherings.
  • It will continue online and will likely be very different from past years, with the organizers referring to an "innovative new concept."
  • The German government's coronavirus rules outlaw any events with more than 5,000 attendees.

IFA 2020 will not follow in the footsteps of MWC 2020, Google I/O 2020, E3 2020, GDC and so on and so forth — the full list of events canceled due to the ongoing pandemic is far too long for me to list here. Heck, even Coachella has been postponed this year. But not IFA. Messe Berlin and gfu, the organizers of the massive consumer electronics trade show, took to Twitter earlier today to announce that "IFA Berlin is set to go ahead in 2020."

The tweet thread goes on to say, however, that the event "will not be able to go ahead as usual." Instead, the organizers are referring to an "innovative concept" that they've been discussing for weeks now which would "allow IFA to deliver on its core functions for [the] industry."

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What this concept is remains unclear, though it's probably just going to be a mixture of online events with some in-person interactions. Maybe they'll go for something really fancy and hold the entire event in virtual reality!

Hans-Joachim Kamp, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of gfu Consumer and Home Electronics, issued the following statement:

We expected this development given the constantly evolving pandemic and appreciate that we have now a clear regulatory framework that enables us, our partner Messe Berlin, and our exhibitors to make detailed plans for IFA 2020."

The news comes in light of announcements by Chancellor Angela Merkel that the government will gradually begin reopening the German economy after nearly a month under lockdown.

Coronavirus and tech: Ongoing list of event cancellations, disruptions, product delays, and more