ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Canalys predicts "many more" CE retailers will follow the likes of Surcouf, Best Buy Europe, CompUSA and Circuit City to die from the high streets due to failure to survive in the current market.

According to the analyst, the city centres of 2020 will be a different sight from those today, with "many famous retailers" disappearing.

It reminds one of the dodo and its failure to survive after that most dangerous of hunters (man) invaded its Mauritius island home...

In our case, driving retailers out of business is the "perfect storm" of internet retail and supermarkets, as the competition undercuts on prices while offering a superior consumer experience.

IFA Berlin is already sold out. More companies have submitted applications for space than space exists, says Dr. Christian Goeke, COO, Messe Berlin (photo top left).

Until the new Hall 15 goes up in 2015, IFA will be a show filled to its limit...and then some as the organizer looks for temporary solutions to accommodate. That’s 140,000 sqm of exhibits plus whatever extra space can be shoe-horned into IFA by using outdoor tents and other temporary buildings.

Part of the pressure comes from the growing number of Asian exhibitors. The more robust appliance business also clamours for space. And in consumer electronics, the growth is in mobile devices and accessories as well as the Apple ecosystem.

That's one of the main messages we took from the IFA Global Press Conference in Dubrovnik this year.

But that's not the only message.

Keeping track of the ever-ongoing patent wars is hard work-- but now keeping tabs on who is suing who is easier thanks to a Bloomberg infographic showing key cases at the International Trade Commission.

As the graphic shows, the smartphone patent wars appear to radiate from one source-- Apple. Other vendors in the various legal fights include Samsung, Motorola Mobility, HTC, VIA, S3 Graphics and even Kodak.

Jennifer J. Deal’s Five Millennial Myths is subtitled: Forget what you think you know about your Gen Y employees.

That part was easy: I didn’t know much.

The conventional wisdom, apparently, is that “…everyone under the age of 30 is needy and narcissistic. They want the corner office and a company car, but they aren’t truly committed to their organization. They don’t take kindly to criticism, but can be easily won over with the next hot gadget.”

Deal asks: “Can companies afford to put their trust in these types of characterizations?”

For the past 12 years, she studied the so-called generation gap through empirical research, and found the stereotypes of millennials in the workplace asinconsistent at best and destructive at worst. With data collected from more than 13,000 participants in for-profit, nonprofit, and government organizations, Deal dentifies five key myths that companies believe about their younger employees.

Myth #1: Millennials don’t want to be told what to do.

The reality: Wrong! Their research shows (unexpectedly, she admits) that millennials currently in the workforce are more willing to defer to authority than either baby boomers or Gen Xers.

Millennials are more likely to thrive if they know the ingredients for success in the workplace, starting with the basics. For example, although it may seem obvious to an older manager, millennials may appreciate being told what time they are expected to arrive at the office, and precisely how quickly they should turn around a project (beyond just “ASAP”).

Myth #2: Millennials lack organizational loyalty. They aren’t committed to their company, and will change jobs when offered a small increase in salary.