CES TRENDS:Exhibition at a crossroads as electronics industry changes tack

The International Consumer Electronics Show may be one of the biggest events in the tech calendar, but that doesn’t mean its future is certain. Like the industry itself, things can change more quickly than anticipated. On the face of it though, the show is still putting in a decent performance despite dark predictions.

Some 20,000 products will be launched this week, with about 3,250 exhibitors packing out the Las Vegas Convention Center until the show closes tomorrow. More than 150,000 people will attend, according to official estimates, and the size of the event – 1.9 million square feet of exhibition space – has also set a new record.

“CES has an incredible story to tell, with every major technology company spanning the globe participating in this year’s CES to showcase their innovations,” CEA president Gary Shapiro said.

On display is everything from high-tech robotics and advances in cars to technology solutions for health and wellbeing, and connected appliances that make your home smarter and more efficient.

Well-established tech names such as Intel and Samsung rub shoulders with up and coming firms looking to make their mark in the tech world. But the show is still suffering from quiet whispers that it may be on an inevitable slow decline into irrelevance, as it loses some of its high profile exhibitors. In 2012, Microsoft said it would be the last time it played a major role at the show, and it has so far stuck to its word.

The questions about the shows future aren’t new. Similar issues were raised last year following Microsoft’s announcement.

Emphasis on apps

But the exhibition is at least trying to roll with the punches. This year’s show has a greater emphasis on apps and software, and mobile firms are playing an increasing role.

That was most evident in the show’s choice of keynote speakers. The pre-show keynote, traditionally delivered by Microsoft executives in the past, was taken over by Qualcomm. It is hardly a household name but Qualcomm technology powers many of the smartphones on the market today. “For over a dozen years, the pre-show keynote has had only two people featured: Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer,” Mr Shapiro said, introducing Qualcomm as “another great company” that was helping innovate and drive the consumer electronics industry.

“Mobile is transforming the whole world and the expansion of connected devices is opening up tremendous business, social and educational opportunities,” he said. Global mobile revenue revenues are estimated to have reached $1.5 trillion last year, and that figure is expected to rise further in 2013 as more tech companies embrace mobile, creating new types of connected devices.

Slow decline

“The momentum is absolutely incredible,” Mr Shapiro said.

If CES is on a slow decline to eventual irrelevance, it won’t be the first technology show to suffer that fate. At one point, Comdex was the world’s largest computer trade shows in the world; it was cancelled in 2004, and CES took over as the major tech trade show.

Part of Comdex’s downfall was the loss of some of its key exhibitors, who opted to abandon the show floor in favour of taking meeting space at nearby sites. That is something that CES has seen in recent years, with exhibitors such as Dell and HP now absent from the main show floor, although not necessarily from the entire event. CES is also facing increased competition from industry specific shows, with Mobile World Congress in February and games expo E3 in June.

However, the vacuum left behind by the departure of some of the traditional tech firms has been filled at least in part by rising stars from the east as Chinese tech firms seek to expand in western markets.

Companies such as Huawei and ZTE are trying to make their mark in European and US mobile markets, unveiling new smartphones at the event. Both firms had a major presence at the 2012 Mobile World Congress event too. Chinese TV maker Hisense also obtained a prominent spot in the central hall opposite Intel.

The problem is that CES was always the place to go to hear about hardware, and while software and apps are playing a bigger role this year than before, hardware announcements are still taking prominence.

Wired magazine declared that hardware doesn’t really matter any more, and that we are living in a software-driven world, thereby causing a problem for the show.

“As software matters more and more, CES matters less and less. The internet is already the world’s largest trade show. Gadget blogs are the new conventions,” Mat Honan wrote. Slashdot, meanwhile, said the show is at a crossroads, while Buzzfeed isn’t even attending the show this year.

It may be slightly premature to write off CES, but its future will continue to be closely watched as the exhibition tries to evolve with the changing industry.