And you pay more for it (1.29€ / 1.29€).... which is bulls..t.

daddycool: make sure to check out this link ( http://telefon-treff.de/showthread.php?s=&threadid=273884 ) for info on free cebit passes.

The free passes also illustrate another problem with cebit. it used to be b2b trade show, then to many ordinary folks (and by this i mean the "beutelratten", not the typical engadget reader) came. So they raised the price to 36€ (around $47) and thought everybody was good. Well, that didn't solve the problem.
Now there are millions and millions of stupid german people that spend $50 on a ticket and just collect the bags with information and run around with them, occasionaly "dropping" one if they have to many... they don't read the papers, they just collect. Cebit is always way to full and youre not taken seriously if youre not wearing a tie because they think youre one of them bag-collectors. This year, matters should be wors since everybody can grad free tickets.

Cebit used to a great tradeshow. I loved it. I spent massive amounts of money on going several times including train tickets. Now many major players are missing (several big cellphone companies - starting with nokia), everybody only speaks german and there are ZERO product anouncements (except for Art Lebdev or whatever they're called...).
Cebit has lost it's place: It used to be this big one-in-all CES meets 3GSM meets B2B-IT-Companies and now it just sucks.

There is no way in hell to justify flying from the US to Hannover (one of the worst airports to fly to, by the by), pay the tripple room prices and then bring the optimus 103 real-life pictures. there just isnt.

Chris - Hamburg, Germany.