All you need to know about CES 2013.
Not sure if Big Bird or Ballmer was better — or all that different.
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Showing 11 posts tagged ces
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"Stuck in a Software Era"
And yet another CES-slam (notice a trend?), this time from Mat Honan of Wired. He argues that the reason CES doesn’t matter anymore is simply because hardware doesn’t matter anymore:
This is a problem for CES, which has never really been a show about software. As software matters more and more, CES matters less and less. The internet is already the world’s largest trade show. Gadget blogs are the new conventions. The hottest products are all in app stores, or on Kickstarter. Sure, big electronics shows offer the opportunity to meet people and forge relationships. But even that transaction is being moved online in the era of real-time social media.
Smart thoughts. Though I’d argue more in the direction of the importance of hardware + software (hence, Apple).
“The last showstopping CES product was the Palm Pre, announced in 2009. It was first phone that looked like it might touch the iPhone in its greatness. Even then it was remarked by more than a few reporters at the show that it saved CES. Palm is dead now.”
Welcome to CES: A Trade Show, Not a Tastemaker
Mike Isaac on CES:
Is the supposed premier event of the tech industry really the place we’ll see all of the year’s coming trends and successes play out? Can anyone name one single thing they took away from last year’s CES, save a nasty case of show-floor SARS?
The answer, of course, is no. Just as it was last year. And the year before.
I have never been to CES, and the only reason I’d ever imagine going is simply to see if it’s as big of a nightmare as people say it is. I have no desire to see anything launched there — zero. Because all the consumer tech companies I care about — save, perhaps now Samsung — aren’t even there. It’s a strawman of a show.
CES Winners Are Losers
Following up on this post, Angel Alvarado goes back a couple more steps. The results aren’t pretty:
Best of CES winners:2011: Motorola Xoom2010: Panasonic’s 3D plasma TV2009: Palm Pre
— Angel Alvarado (@alvaradoangel) January 12, 2012
Apple iTV, iPhone 5, New MacBook Air Cast A "Dark Shadow Over CES"
While some of what you read from the people who attended CES talks about how great it was — cool launches, record attendance, yadda, yadda — this is absolutely what it looked like from afar. Apple, Apple, Apple. (As predicted.)
Or worse: copy Apple, copy Apple, copy Apple.
A cynic might suggest that those who went are trying to justify their decision. A cynical bastard might suggest those same people are trying to justify their continued involvement with a show that simply does not matter anymore.
This won’t matter. This is nonsense. Case in point: CES 2011 — Motorola Xoom Wins Best of Show.
Update: CES Winners Are Losers
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In a bit of fortuitous timing, I was already planning to be in New York next week.
Haven’t heard much about the event beyond “textbooks”, as was previously reported.
Naturally, Apple chooses to announce the event right in the middle of CES. By the end of the afternoon I expect 75% of the companies at that event to be talking about their upcoming textbook offerings.
The Downslope of CES
I’ve never been to CES and doubt I’ll ever go. The only reason I would have any desire to is just to see the spectacle of it, not for anything actually announced at the event, which seems to be less and less each year.
As Nick Wingfield reports for The New York Times, this doesn’t sound good:
The group said it was expecting more than 2,700 exhibitors at this week’s event, compared with 2,800 the year before, although it does not have a final number yet because it is still selling space. Attendance for the show last year was more than 149,000, but it’s too soon to tell whether this year will exceed that figure.
There’s one common feeling amongst every single person I’ve talked to that is going this year: dread.
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For The 5th Year In A Row, Apple Wins CES. Before It Starts. Without Showing Up.
Fuck Me? No. Fuck You.
This morning, Microsoft made waves with a big move: they’re pulling out of CES. Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s head of communications, made the announcement on the company blog, noting that this year’s CES (which is in a few weeks) would be the last one featuring both a Microsoft keynote and even a Microsoft booth.
Like Apple before them, Microsoft apparently decided to move on from the notion of a big conference dictating their early year news and release cycle. Or that’s how Shaw framed it, at least:
We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.
But wait.
