Being the biggest doesn’t always seem amount to being the best. And while we tend to disagree, Peter Svensson, a technology writer for the Associated Press, thinks, “[t]he largest trade show in the Americas must be a great place to show off new products, right? Wrong. The International Consumer Electrics Show is quickly becoming a launch pad for products that fall flat.”
This might be half true, but there is still a range of products at large to be released at CES this year that are sure to leave a footprint in the industry, regardless if it falls short of Apple tech or not.
CES is an annual event and starts officially on Tuesday when the showroom opens at the Las Vegas Convention Center; over 140,000 people are expected to attend, and over 2,8000 exhibitors. Part of the reason people think CES is “dying” is because the more notable manufacturers skip it altogether—like Apple, who has never had a booth at the show. Microsoft also said 2012 would be their last year exhibiting at CES, for the “industry moves fast and changes faster. And so the way we communicate with our customers must change in equally speedy ways. To ensure it does, we constantly challenge our assumptions,” said Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman. Basically, the timing of CES doesn’t coincide with what they’re working on, and the final version of Windows 8 probably won’t be ready for release until the end of the year.
President of the Consumer Electronics Association doesn’t seem to take Svensson’s commentary too seriously, as “[he’s] pretty comfortable that [CES] [is] the most important event for technology in the world, [and] [i]t’s difficult to come out with someone really important who’s not there.”
And he shouldn’t, the event is getting screaming press and there have been multiple announcements of revolutionary technologies, like LG’s nameless Google TV with 3D motion sensors, the Motorola Droid 4 (finally!), Vizio’s new tablet, and the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx.
It is predicted by Mercury News, global electronic spending will top $1 trillion this year alone—and “[t]ablet computers, the fastest growing product category, will also help boost global sales, as will consumer purchases in emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil.”
(via News Channel 5; photo via Tree Hugger)
It should perhaps be obvious – but that spontaneous picture you took with the Apple Store iPhone (and didn’t delete) is there for anyone to see – including Irby Pace. While visiting Apple stores in Texas and New York, he collected more than 1,000 images from iPhones, iPads, and iPods – a collection he has pared down for a gallery exhibition he calls “Unintended Consequences.”
