What is CES®?
CES® is the largest trade show for consumer electronics products. It occurs every January in Las Vegas, is attended by over 177,000 people, with almost 2.5 million square feet of displays and demonstrations from over 3,800 exhibitors. Run by the Consumer Technology Association, CES® is the world's leading event for consumer electronics products, manufacturers, retailers, and press. They even have a page with their numbers: CES by the numbers
Innovations
Innovation is a highlight of CES® and many companies introduce their newest products and services at the show on the exhibit floor and press conferences. Press coverage is critical for any new product launch and major news organizations and technology publications all send thousands of reporters to attend the meeting to find and write reviews of the newest and nest products. While CES® has a “best of show” announcement, technology publications like PC Magazine, WIRED, other technology news publications al have their lists.
Innovative products highlight the trends in consumer spending and can create new categories with useful applications of technology. Here's a link to a few popular “best of “ sites including CES for 2017. What's innovative this year could be old news next year, so it's important to visit the latest year's sites.
Products
CES® features consumer technologies and companies that make them. It's not a trade show for consumers, but for people in the industry who make, distribute, and sell technology products to consumers. Exhibitors include companies with common brand names like Samsung, Hewlett-Packard, and Panasonic to niche makers of products that are rebranded with someone else's labels.
These products span many categories, with new types created as the technology changes. Manufacturers and suppliers use the show to feature their products and services to potential retailers, the press, and other companies that could be potential partners.
Here's a list of the major categories:
- 3D Printing
- Accessories
- Augmented Reality
- Audio
- Communications Infrastructure
- Computer Hardware/Software/Services
- Content Creation and Distribution
- Digital/Online Media
- Digital Imaging/Photography
- Drones
- Electronic Gaming
- Fitness and Sports
- Health and Biotech
- Internet Services
- Personal Privacy 7 Cyber Security
- Robotics
- Sensors
- Smart Home
- Vehicle Technology
- Video
- Wearables
- Wireless Devices & Services
If a company is interested in meeting potential buyers at retail stores, wholesalers, or distributors, or even other manufacturers, CES® is the industry trade show to attend.
Conferences
The show takes place over several days and includes an extensive seminar and conference schedule with over 100 sessions. Many attendees got for the conference sessions to keep up with industry trends.
Presentations include keynote speeches by industry leaders who share their insights on technology that's affecting the industry and consumers. Other seminars include events sponsored by exhibitors and industry panels with leading authorities in their respective technical areas. Conference sessions mirror the categories of products, but also include some seminars that don't fit a product category like industry standards, government policies, marketing, and other topics for industry professionals.
Who Attends CES®
CES® has been held for over 50 years and is a global conference. In addition to retailers, media and manufacturers, other categories of professionals in the industry attend from all over the world. Other attendees include people from educational institutions, investment and venture capital firms, governments and industry analysts.
While the majority of attendees are from the U.S., the top twenty countries for consumer electronics are represented by over 20,000 people. In addition to the CES® annual Las Vegas event, CES® organizes shows in Europe, Asia, and New York City.
For your information, one of the largest companies in the tech industry, Apple, doesn't attend CES® and uses its events for product announcements, highly anticipated due to the scope of Apple's industry presence. Microsoft has a small exhibit in comparison to other large companies and focuses on specific technologies, which in 2017 was their connected car strategy. Google's booth focused on Google Home, their digital assistant product.
To my way of thinking
The U.S. consumer technology industry represents $287 billion in revenue and is a significant industry that's changing. CES® is the industry's way of keeping up with this dynamic and growing market. Fortunately, media coverage is extensive, so new products and trends are covered for the consumer, along with changes to more established technologies.
For this latest year in 2017 as the trend as accelerated, gadgets and mobile technology are taking center stage over personal computing.
Best of CES® Links
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