Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 will be held between 10 and 13 January in Las Vegas, USA, where 2,700 exhibitors will attend and the number of visitors is expected to exceed 140,000. With these figures, CES 2012 can claim the title of the greatest IT & C event in the world, but the technology fair has a problem though: it was not the scene in recent years of launching the best selling products or technologies in the world. Apple, for example, organizes its own events, same as like Google and Microsoft, and many mobile phone manufacturers tend to postpone big launches for the dedicated event in Barcelona (Mobile World Congress, held in February). An example is Samsung, which is said to present the new model Galaxy S3 at the event in Spain.
Several years have passed since the IT event in the world has not presented anything “amazing”, writes Reuters. “There is much impatience. Promise than often is more than the reality shows. I am interested in this event only because important information for the IT market wil lbe presented, which is quite rare”, said Todd Lowenstein, portfolio manager at Highmark Capital Management company, with investments in the technology sector. Microsoft, trying to regain the IT crown from Apple and newcomer Google, argued for a long time that CES in early January schedule does not fit with its plans to launch products, which means it has little to say in the opening speech.
“The Microsoft group can do this alone, it does not need CES. It’s about a lot of money, and these events are in a decline in popularity anyway”, said Hanson Hosein, a specialist in IT and media at the University of Washington in Seattle. Even under these conditions, CES is still an event announcing the technology trends where consumers and analysts can anticipate some of the most interesting products and technologies of the year, writes Wired magazine, which also compiled a top five of the most important themes to follow during the fair.
CES 2012, in short
The first edition of the CES took place in 1967 in New York, and over the years the event was a launch pad for video equipment, recording cameras, DVD, HDTV and many others. The importance of CES grew rapidly after COMDEX rival was suspended a decade ago. This year’s event features over 2,700 exhibitors on an area of 167,225 square meters. The largest CES event took place in 2008, with an area of 171.870 square meters. Organizers expect 140,000 to 150,000 visitors.
