Consumer Electronics Show

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The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a trade show held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association. At the show, many previews of products are introduced, or new products are announced.

The show is held at the Las Vegas Convention Center with additional venues used for specific specialties. The CES is now considered one of the major technology-related trade shows, following the cancellation of Comdex.

Contents

[edit] History

The first CES was held in June, 1967 in New York City.

From 1978 to 1994, CES was held twice each year: once in January in Las Vegas known as Winter Consumer Electronics Show (WCES) and once in June in Chicago, Illinois known as Summer Consumer Electronics Show (SCES).

In 1995, the show changed to a once a year format with Las Vegas as the location. In Vegas, the show is one of the largest, the other being CONEXPO-CON/AGG, taking up to 18 days to setup, run and break down.[1]

[edit] Show highlights

[edit] 2005

The 2005 exhibition was from January 6, 2005 to January 9, 2005 in Las Vegas. The event started off with a twist when the main keynote address by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates went wrong as a device that was being demonstrated failed,[2] much to the amusement of the onlookers.

Samsung showed off a 102-inch plasma television.[3]

Bill Gates at the CES, January 4, 2006
Bill Gates at the CES, January 4, 2006

[edit] 2006

The 2006 International CES took place on January 5, 2006 to January 8, 2006 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Sands Convention Center, the Alexis Park Hotel and the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. HDTV was a central theme in the Bill Gates keynote[4] as well as many of the other manufacturer's speeches. The standards competition between HD DVD and Blu-ray was conspicuous, with some of the first HD movie releases[5] and first HD players being announced at the show. Philips showed a rollable display prototype whose screen can retain an image for several months without electricity.

Attendance was over 150,000 individuals in 1.67 million net square feet of space making it the largest electronics event in the United States.

[edit] 2007

In a break from recent tradition, the 2007 CES event did not begin on a Thursday, nor span a weekend. It ran from Monday January 8, 2007 to Thursday January 11, 2007. The venues also changed slightly with the high-performance audio and home theater expo moving from the Alexis Park venue to The Venetian. The remaining venues were the same as previous years: the Las Vegas Convention Center was the center of events, with the adjacent Las Vegas Hilton, and the Sands Expo and Convention Center hosting satellite exhibitions.

The location for the main keynotes was the other major change for 2007. Previously held at the Las Vegas Hilton's Main Theater, they staged for the first time at The Palazzo Ballroom in The Venetian. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, gave his ninth pre-show keynote address on the Sunday evening. The opening keynote was presented by Gary Shapiro (President/CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts the event), with Ed Zander, Chairman/CEO of Motorola. Other keynote speakers scheduled included Robert Iger from The Walt Disney Company, Michael Dell, founder of Dell Inc., and Leslie Moonves of CBS.

Finally, Industry Insider presentations moved to the Las Vegas Hilton, with contributions from Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia and John Chambers, CEO of Cisco.

In the gaming section for Windows Vista and DirectX 10, there were two games shown: Age of Conan and Crysis.

[edit] Notable product introductions

Products and technologies introduced at CES include:

[edit] CES in popular culture

  • In the film Tron (1982), ENCOM Senior VP Ed Dillinger sighs derisively to the Master Control Program, "If you've seen one Consumer Electronics Show, you've seen 'em all."

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Grandest Gadgets", Las Vegas Review-Journal, Page A1, January 6, 2007.
  2. ^ Iain Thomson. Blue screen of death crashes Gates at CES. VNU. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
  3. ^ John Spooner. Samsung's big-screen plans for CES. news.com. CNET. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
  4. ^ Boutin, P, "Live Coverage of Bill Gates CES keynote". Engadget.com. January 4, 2006. Retrieved on January 10, 2007.
  5. ^ Ricker, T, "Film studios set to release Blu-ray and HD DVD titles today". Engadget.com. January 4, 2006. Retrieved on January 10, 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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