Reading Tea Leaves-PMA 2008

I didn't get to the PMA show in Las Vegas this year. A winter snow storm cancelled my flights, and rather than struggle my way there I decided to spend the weekend at home, watching the Superbowl, thinking about the industry, and eventually writing this article.
Since there are any number of sites that report on the new products being shown at PMA for the first time(most were announced during the week leading up to the show, rather than at the show itself) you'll have no trouble finding pictures and specs of all theI-gotta-have-ititems as well as theyawnersandme-toos.
But I thought that it might be fun to ponder the significance of both what was announced at PMA, what wasn't, recent industry trends, and where they might be leading us. Read the tea leaves, in other words. So what follows is what is known in the biz as athink piece. Few facts, mostly opinion. Agree with me? Disagree? Fine. Care to makeyouropinion public? Join this sitesdiscussion forumand let everyone know whatyouthink....