January 5, 2010
Who goes to CES
The Consumer Electronics Show in the first week of every January is the biggest convention in the US (which is why it is always in Vegas -- no other city can hold it).
CES is by far the biggest tech show of the year. Mobile industry definitely shows up in force, anyone in CE is definitely there (think any product in a Best Buy), and interestingly tons of component and no-name brands from Asia are there. You can see tons of iPod clones and digital cameras and stuff.
Absolute legions of press show up because there is the "here is the trend" story. And a surprisingly large number of regional distributors and "man on the street" types that work somewhere in the industry (have a retail store, do installations of home theaters). Of course all the big time "buyers" are there too -- the retailers, the wireless carriers, organizations that do large-scale purchasing (I would suspect some hotel chains TV buyers are hanging out there).Car guys and automotive tech takes a ton of room.
The purpose for the established companies is basically: get PR by announcing cool stuff (e.g., biggest LCD TV race every year); host meetings with partners (like retailers or suppliers) while they are in town. One time I saw the Wal-Mart buyer roll into the Panasonic pavilion -- you have never seen so many Japanese suits instantly focus on spot.
For the no name guys, I suspect there is the aim of having some promising distributor or white-label retailer drift by. The most astonishing thing about this wild east group of pavilions is usually how similar everything is.
The most telling thing about what is happening in tech is how many PC guys are there, how many media/content folks are hosting parties, and even the high profile of wireless (that's why Nexus One announced today). One thing to watch for is how big a profile the Googles and Yahoos have this year -- as far as pavilions and dancing girls, I mean.
One last thing: the Apple Macworld that happens RIGHT after CES is just about the most brilliant Apple thing of all. It ALWAYS gets huge solo airtime. I remember the year when all they had was the iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini, and that still had people gaga. This year, they have one better.
