The City Lights Reporter - Comdex-N-Color

With over 250,000 attendees, and more than 2,000 vendors and exhibitors COMDEX/Fall 2000 held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada is North America’s largest international technology event. The general preconception is that young white males or the old corporate guard are the primary attendees at events such as COMDEX. That was definitely not the case this year as the convention floor was covered with a strong turn out of black, brown and female faces.

Yes the times, they are a changing. Women are the largest consumer market on the Internet and African Americans with their 6 billion dollar disposable income are buying computers at a two to one rate when compared with the general populous. But the question begs to be answered in this Dot.Com crazed world, “Does the computer industry know these facts”?

As we walked the convention floor, we saw a strong representation of women and people of color gainfully employed and hawking their wares. But when asked specifically, if they had a diversity vendor program or how they intended to market their goods and services to the urban community, you got a blank stare. We have never seen so many white folk sick their finger in the air and do a Baptist dance, as they tried to figure out what to say or who to get.

In these times of corporate responsibility and compassionate conservatism, you would think that they would have a clue. Let me give you some examples; Sony Electronics is marketing a wide variety of mobile personal digital assistants (PDA), music players, and miniature computers. Now with every other black teenager sporting walkmans, pagers, and cell phones, you would think that Sony would be advertising their new products on urban radio stations and in the covers of Jet and Ebony.

We talked to more then five people and could not find one who recognized Ebony Magazine. Now with Rap music videos showcasing two-way paging devices and MP3 players, you would think African American youth would be a natural market for them.

We asked another company the same questions and their reply was that they want to sell to everyone. We asked how do you define everyone, and they said young people. “Well, how do you reach young people”, and the representative proudly answered, “we advertise in Rolling Stone magazine” … (back to preconceptions). African Americans have a 5 to 1 “pass on” rate when it comes to magazines. For every one of us who reads a publication, we normally pass it on or recommend it to five other people.

It is not our intention to paint a negative picture of the computer electronic industry or Sony in particular, for their ignorance is as much our fault as it is theirs. Only by pro-action on our parts can we get them to see the talent, revenues and opportunities they are passing up. Let me give you some other examples; EDS a national technology company, not only could show me a written diversity policy, they could name black greek organizations, technical associations and historical black colleges that they were supporting financially to help bridge the digital divide.

Harold Mason of LSI Logic explained how they were actively seeking minority vendors for their new Partners (resellers) Program. They see the relationships black vendors have with government and corporate buyers as a natural edge against their competition. Philips Electronics was promoting their Phillips Alliance Program for qualified resellers. Even Sony (after contacting their corporate offices) has many opportunities for minority companies and businessmen. We need to attend these trade shows and events touching bases with decision makers, promoting our goods and educating them to the possible benefits of doing business in the inner cities.

Don’t believe the hype, no matter how many times the mainstream media talks about the “Digital Divide”. Believe me there is a strong African American presence in the computer industry and you could see it on the floor of the convention center.

Former NFL star, Reggie Grant, CEO of e-SportsInstruction.com, was trapping and bagging venture capital companies. Keshia Jones of Alease Communications an Internet consulting firm out of New York, was seeking out Bluetooth mobile technology she could show to her clients. Dr. Edwards, Founder of JazzEntertainment.com was signing content deals with mobile application service providers (ASP). Terrance Johnson of BlackVegas.com was able to meet the marketing and advertising directors of many of the exhibitors to pitch the exposure his website could give their companies. The demographics of America are changing drastically; the majority is becoming the minority.

Those of us in the business know the minority online community is vastly understated. Take African Americans as just one slice of the pie. The accepted numbers say there are only 5 million African Americans online, but if you check the web stats of major black web portals you will see the numbers don’t add up. Netnoir has 5 million subscribers alone, BET has 20 million unique visitors a month, The Black World Today (TBWT.com), BlackPlanet.com and BlackVoices.com have over a million subscribers each.

Now we can guess that some people would subscribe to multiple sites, but by our count you’re still looking at way over 5 to 10 million people. We may not all have Internet access in our home but we sure do have it on the job and in school.

You need to be at the next industry trade show in your area. We as a people need to participate in, and take advantage of, the opportunities that are available at shows like COMDEX. Ericsson creator of Bluetooth technology was giving away the software in order to attract developers of new applications. Electronic manufactures like Samsung are looking for retailers to open new markets. Graphic artists and webmasters can meet developers and entrepreneurs looking for new and unique content and designs. High tech companies like CRC Magnetics Corp are hiring programmers and IT professionals on the spot. Churches and non-profits can find companies like NetNanny willing to sponsor free seminars and workshops.

The global market for Internet technology (IT) products and services was $883 billion dollars in 1999. It is estimated to grow to $1.4 trillion dollars by 2004. With the advent of convergence technology, televisions are becoming telephones, telephones are becoming computers, and computers are being incorporated into everyday consumer devices. The same can be said for Internet access.

A time is coming when the majority of Internet access will be through wireless and not wired, means. You will be able to access your personal data through your wristwatch, pay for conveniences with your cell phone, and merchandise your business world wide with the simplicity of a click of the mouse. All these concepts and applications were on display at COMDEX this year. Everything we do and the way we do it is changing due to technology. Be a part of the change, catch the wave and be a part of the future.

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This web site contains "Trademarks" and "Copyrighted" material licensed to other entities and cannot be reproduced, altered, or used in any form without prior written permission. Please read our Terms Of Use for compliance information.