CES 2011 and the parallel show run from January 6-9th, with a special press day on the 5th (Day Zero, we call it). Click to visit each of UHF's live reports. The report will appear early the next day, if not before.
CES Preview
Day 0 (Jan.5th)
Day 1 (Jan.6th)
Day 2 (Jan.7th)
Day 3 (Jan.8th)
Day 4 (Jan.9th)
CES 2011...a show in transition
Why would CES, once one of the world's biggest trade shows, and held twice a year once upon a time, be shrinking? Well, there was this little glitch in the economy -- perhaps you've heard about it? But that's not the only factor at work.
Truth is, trade shows worldwide are beleaguered, and you don't have to look very far for the reasons. Travelling is getting more and more expensive, and less and less pleasant. Let's take Vegas as an example. Want to book a block of high end rooms at one of the fancier hotels? Be prepared not only to pay a premium price of several hundred dollars per room per day, but also a guaranteed amount per person to be spent at the gaming tables, restaurants, and shows. A large amount. CES rooms don't come cheap, as you'd expect, and forget carrying a box from your car to your exhibit room -- there's unionized help for that. Want to drag a chair to the other end of the room? Sure, but it will cost you. Add in the cost of shipping gear to the show and back, some of it destined to be lost or damaged. Add the hidden cost of taking high-powered executives and technical staff off line so they can meet a few hundred people at the show. Want to make it up by selling stuff, such as recordings or the heavy gear you don't feel like carrying home? Not allowed (T.H.E.Show has a different policy). And don't get us started on the hassle of flying these days. Care to be sexually assaulted while you're lining up for the plane?
And then there's the Internet. People can talk and see products without ever leaving the office. An exhibitor can contact a lot more people with an expertly-designed Web site than with even a major show presence. That's why some electronics manufacturers are cutting back on their show partcipation, like HP, or even eliminating them, like Apple.
Of course CES is not sitting around waiting for death to put it out of its (relative) misery. Last year it filled some of the empty space by adding a new exhibit section called iLounge (that's the name of the sponsoring company) dedicated to everything iPod related. This year, in the era of the iPad, it will be many times bigger. There will also be sections dedicated to such special areas of interest as Green energy. Expect 3D to have a major presence too.
In the meantime, Gary Shapiro, the ever-cheerful CEO of the CES parent, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), has been talking up the importance of innovation in the rebirth of America (that's the way he talks). He has launched a blog on American innovation, separate from the CEA newsletter, to deliver his upbeat message. As a point of interest, Shapiro is the pro-business (read: right-wing) voice on the left-leaning Huffington Post. On both HuffPost and his blog, he waxed exstatic about the results of the US midterm election, apparently under the impression that innovation will come from people who think the universe is 6000 years old.
Once again, the highest concentration of high end audio exhibits will be at the Venetian hotel, right on the Strip. So will some of the show events, such as CES Unveiled and many of the press conferences. But CES is a lot more than audio, and the largest number of exhibits can be found at the gigantic Las Vegas Conventio Center. Big though LVCC is (its size was doubled some years back specifically to accommodate CES), the show overflows to the nearby Las Vegas Hilton and several temporary tentlike structures.
There is also a competing high-end audio show, known as T.H.E.Show, over at the Flamingo, the huge hotel-casino complex originally set up by Bugsy Siegel (Moe Greene in the first Godfather movie). We'll be covering that show as well.
There will be five daily reports, one for each of the four official days, plus "Day Zero," the press day. The reports will be placed on line from an obscure place that offers expensive coffee but free Internet.
Where is it? If we told you we'd have to kill you.
Why would CES, once one of the world's biggest trade shows, and held twice a year once upon a time, be shrinking? Well, there was this little glitch in the economy -- perhaps you've heard about it? But that's not the only factor at work.
Truth is, trade shows worldwide are beleaguered, and you don't have to look very far for the reasons. Travelling is getting more and more expensive, and less and less pleasant. Let's take Vegas as an example. Want to book a block of high end rooms at one of the fancier hotels? Be prepared not only to pay a premium price of several hundred dollars per room per day, but also a guaranteed amount per person to be spent at the gaming tables, restaurants, and shows. A large amount. CES rooms don't come cheap, as you'd expect, and forget carrying a box from your car to your exhibit room -- there's unionized help for that. Want to drag a chair to the other end of the room? Sure, but it will cost you. Add in the cost of shipping gear to the show and back, some of it destined to be lost or damaged. Add the hidden cost of taking high-powered executives and technical staff off line so they can meet a few hundred people at the show. Want to make it up by selling stuff, such as recordings or the heavy gear you don't feel like carrying home? Not allowed (T.H.E.Show has a different policy). And don't get us started on the hassle of flying these days. Care to be sexually assaulted while you're lining up for the plane?And then there's the Internet. People can talk and see products without ever leaving the office. An exhibitor can contact a lot more people with an expertly-designed Web site than with even a major show presence. That's why some electronics manufacturers are cutting back on their show partcipation, like HP, or even eliminating them, like Apple.
Of course CES is not sitting around waiting for death to put it out of its (relative) misery. Last year it filled some of the empty space by adding a new exhibit section called iLounge (that's the name of the sponsoring company) dedicated to everything iPod related. This year, in the era of the iPad, it will be many times bigger. There will also be sections dedicated to such special areas of interest as Green energy. Expect 3D to have a major presence too. In the meantime, Gary Shapiro, the ever-cheerful CEO of the CES parent, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), has been talking up the importance of innovation in the rebirth of America (that's the way he talks). He has launched a blog on American innovation, separate from the CEA newsletter, to deliver his upbeat message. As a point of interest, Shapiro is the pro-business (read: right-wing) voice on the left-leaning Huffington Post. On both HuffPost and his blog, he waxed exstatic about the results of the US midterm election, apparently under the impression that innovation will come from people who think the universe is 6000 years old. Once again, the highest concentration of high end audio exhibits will be at the Venetian hotel, right on the Strip. So will some of the show events, such as CES Unveiled and many of the press conferences. But CES is a lot more than audio, and the largest number of exhibits can be found at the gigantic Las Vegas Conventio Center. Big though LVCC is (its size was doubled some years back specifically to accommodate CES), the show overflows to the nearby Las Vegas Hilton and several temporary tentlike structures.There is also a competing high-end audio show, known as T.H.E.Show, over at the Flamingo, the huge hotel-casino complex originally set up by Bugsy Siegel (Moe Greene in the first Godfather movie). We'll be covering that show as well.
There will be five daily reports, one for each of the four official days, plus "Day Zero," the press day. The reports will be placed on line from an obscure place that offers expensive coffee but free Internet.
Where is it? If we told you we'd have to kill you.
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