A Unique CES
By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 1/19/2009
After months of planning, and a holiday season that suffered from the recession, International CES was held during the first full week of the new year.
For this CES veteran, the 2009 version was one of the most unique I have ever attended.
First off, there was the whole subject of attendance. It seemed as if every company attending CES that I spoke with cut back on the number of employees it sent to the show., which was not surprising.
The taxi and bus lines were shorter on some days in some locations, but as long as usual on others. One day, it took 45 minutes for my bus to get from the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Sands.
Vegas seemed unusually quiet on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 6, when I flew into town with co-workers. That changed by Wednesday, CES Media Day, and activity increased the rest of the show.
The talk of attendance soon became an obsession with some. Taxi drivers, hotel workers, airport security personnel and rank-and-file CES attendees all seemed to turn into tradeshow-attendance experts. I heard estimates from 80,000 to 120,000 during the show. I've been to CES in previous years here and in Chicago when there were 80,000 to 100,000 in attendance, so that 110,000 estimate that show producer CEA came up with last week seems about right.
With all the talk, I'm surprised the casinos didn't set odds on the CEA estimate of CES attendance.
As for the morale or the tone of the show, it was also unique. In meetings and discussions with manufacturers, retailers and distributors, and in talks I witnessed between those groups, there was less bravado than a typical tradeshow. Everyone knows how tough it was in the fourth quarter and how difficult it may be in the short term, so industry execs were frank about the challenges their companies and the industry has faced, and will continue to deal with.
I didn't sense much fear, but I did sense concern. I also think there was a sense of relief that CES comes so soon after the traditional holiday season. It gave competitors, suppliers and customers the chance to exchange ideas, commiserate and just plain vent about the economy and how it has affected the market.
Perhaps the biggest surprise during the show was the announcement of a possible delay of the digital TV transition from President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, no less.
Nobody expected it, and, not surprisingly, most industry execs we spoke to during CES, not to mention the CEA, objected to switching the Feb. 17 deadline that government and industry spent years and billions of dollars preparing for.
If you've read my blog on TWICE.com, you know where I stand on the issue. Whether it is Feb. 17 or May 17, there are going to be problems. Let's keep the current deadline, deal with the problems and move on.
Of course, there were also new products and new technologies at the show. For more on that, see our Jan. 26 issue, the second of two special post-show issues covering CES.
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