Rangefinder Magazine
March 2006

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Another CES in Las Vegas Ron Eggers
 

CES is massive. The Las Vegas Convention Center was the primary venue, and the Consumer Electronics Show filled all three main halls. The show also extended to the Hilton Convention Center, the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and Alexis Park. It was almost impossible for one person to see all the exhibits and produc
Above, left: More than 140,000 people attended this year’s show, but for the most part the crowds weren’t overwhelming. And that number still doesn’t match the more than 220,000 people who attended Fall COMDEX at its high point. The number, however, is growing annually. Center: Television screens were all over the place. Big ones, with plasma screens to 103 inches, and small ones that were integrated into cell phones. In fact, one way to sum up the show is “bigger is better, but less is more.” The sizes of televisions, entertainment centers and audio systems were getting larger and larger while, at the same time, there was a new wave of miniaturization and digital convergence that packed more and more functionality into smaller and smaller devices. Even though Apple wasn’t represented (Macworld in San Francisco overlaps with CES each year), anything having to do with the iPod was popular. Right: Traditional consumer electronic products, such as automobile electronics and sound systems, filled much of the LVCC South Hall.

Video walls overwhelmed the showroom floor. Electronics companies, like Panasonic, Sony and Sanyo, showed their latest products while computer giants, such as Microsoft and Intel, expanded their presence.

Eastman Kodak and Canon were among a host of major photo manufacturers showing their products.

SanDisk and Lexar are just two of many specialized companies in the photo industry that were represented on the showroom floor. Above right: Strange video displays were everywhere.
Left: As is often the case, competing technologies result in incompatibilities. In this case, the Blu-ray Disc standard, which is being pushed by a consortium that includes Sony, is one of two competing standards for high-capacity DVDs. The other technology is HD DVD. Many industry insiders are worried about another battle along the lines of Beta v. VHS.

Another Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has come and gone. Over the last few years, the show has been evolving. At one point, it was primarily a show where manufacturers could demonstrate the latest in electronic gadgetries, such

as automobile sound systems, home entertainment centers and the newest television models. There’s still a lot of that at CES, but since the demise of the Fall COMDEX show (once the largest computer show worldwide and also held annually in Las Vegas), CES has evolved into the premier showcase for hardware, software and telecommunications devices.

CES is also becoming an important show for imaging and graphics. A number of exhibitors involved in consumer imaging think CES is a more important show than PMA because of the broad-based exposure the show affords them. Professional photo equipment manufacturers were also finding it beneficial to be there. A number of them used CES to privately preview the products they were going to announce at PMA.