Palm Takes Two RetailVision Awards
By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 9/15/2003
PHOENIX— RetailVision planners did not let the threat of a rare Arizona thunderstorm dampen their spirits as they quickly moved the massive outdoor awards ceremony and dinner indoors in time to hand out a myriad of awards.
While the threatened storms never struck the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge Resort, where RetailVision Fall 2003 was held, the mood indoors was kept upbeat with the help of comedian Henry Cho, the exhilaration expressed by the award winners and the evening-ending fireworks.
Palm took home the most metal by grabbing two awards, one for Best Vendor and the second for Best RetailVision Strategy. Hard-drive maker Maxtor won for Best Product: Hardware, while MediaRECOVER picked up first place for Best Product: Software Productivity.
American Power Conversion won for Best Product: Accessories, Brighter Child Interactive came out on top for Best Product: Edutainment/Entertainment Software and Wacom won Best Product: Peripheral. Belkin was first in Best RetailVision Merchandising, Synapse Micro won for Best RetailVision Presentation and Z-Tel won for Best New Technology.
Event director Pete Prentice called the event a tremendous success. About 60 retailers and 130 exhibitors participated in the four-day affair that was capped off with the RetailVision Golf Classic, which was brought back by popular demand.
Maxtor used the show to officially debut its One-Touch external hard-drive line during the lone World Premiere and AOL gave an in-depth discourse on the benefits of its AOL 9.0 Internet service. Monitor maker Advueu showed its 15-inch and 17-inch LCDs and Maxell displayed almost all its media and computer accessories products.
(See p. 24 for more RetailVision coverage).
