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NOTEBOOK PC PC : DISCUSSION

The Best of CES's Past
Posted in Notebook PC | December 7, 2009 8pm

 

The Consumer Electronics Show has a long and storied history as one of the largest major technology trade shows in the United States and indeed, around the world. Since the first annual CES in New York City in 1967, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored event has been known for launching some of the tech industry’s best products, as well as being the launchpad for a number of major technologies.In this article we’ll take a look at some of the important milestones in CES’s past, both distant and more recent, with a focus on many products and technologies that went on to make a significant impact in the consumer electronics field as a whole.
 

Early History: 1967 to 1978June of 1967 saw the first ever Consumer Electronics Show in New York City with 200 exhibitors debuting new products and technologies to 17,500 attendees. The video cassette recorder saw its debut at CES shortly thereafter in 1970, setting the stage for a long line of important announcements in the consumer electronics space at the then annual event.Other major technologies that were unveiled during the 1970s included the Laserdisc player in 1974 and the Pong system from Atari in 1975. The latter was the first official video game console, and its simple two-dimensional digital rendering of a table tennis game — barely more than two line “paddles” passing a pixel for a ball back and forth — would kick off a video game industry that today is worth many billions of dollars in annual revenue.By 1978 the success of CES was such that it warranted an expansion to two annual events, one held in Las Vegas each January (the Winter Consumer Electronics Show or WCES) and one in Chicago in June (the Summer Consumer Electronics Show or SCES). This double age of CES would continue for almost the next two decades, with a number of high-profile launches and announcements to match its splendor.
 

The Golden Years: 1978 to 1994During its heyday of dual winter and summer events, the Consumer Electronics Show continued its tradition of launching significant products and technologies. In 1981, both the Compact Disc and the personal camcorder were unveiled — both significant markets that still exist today (although there are some compelling arguments about the former being on its way out in favor of digital distribution methods).The Commodore 64 launched at CES in 1982, which remains the best-selling personal computer model of all time at 17 million units. In the early 1980s, computers were largely still the domain of universities and big businesses, with high prices and complex control mechanisms remaining a barrier to wide adoption. The Commodore 64 combined low price and ease of use with an intelligent marketing campaign that brought computing into many homes for the first time.Other significant launches during this time period include the Amiga Computer in 1984, whose 16-bit processor advanced personal computing significantly over the 8-bit Commodore 64, the Nintendo Entertainment System, in 1985, Tetris in 1988, and the Sony Minidisc in 1993, an early digital recording format that survives in a small niche market of audio enthusiasts today.
 

The Recent Past: 1995 to PresentPlans to take CES on the road in 1995 didn’t pan out thanks to a scheduling conflict with the E3 video game trade show that caused many exhibitors to pull out. Diminished attendance at the 1996 Summer CES led to a cancellation of the following year’s Summer event, and in 1998 the show returned to a single annual format in Las Vegas. Major product unveils continued all the while, with 1996 seeing the launch of the DVD format and the emergence of high definition television in 1998.The Digital Video Recorder was announced at CES in 1999 and both plasma TV technology and Microsoft’s original Xbox console launched in 2001, the latter of which is still Microsoft’s flagship game console brand with the Xbox 360. The Blu-ray Disc high definition format debuted in 2003 with a first consumer device going to market that year in Japan, although the official standard and affordable devices would still be a few years away.In 2005 a heated battle began for the biggest and baddest television panels, with Samsung wowing CES attendees with a 102-inch plasma TV. The next year, Blu-ray and HD DVD were squaring off intensely over a high definition optical disc format, and the Sony Reader emerged as the earliest contender in the digital book reading market.Sharp upped the ante in the huge TV race in 2007 with a 108-inch LCD, and 2008 saw HD DVD capitulate to Blu-ray as the high-def standard of choice. That same year, Panasonic brought in a 150-inch plasma TV to home theater enthusiasts, which still holds the title for world’s largest.This year’s CES 2009 saw the introduction of the Palm Pre, the svelte Sony Vaio P laptop, a Dick Tracy-esque LG watch phone with a touchscreen and video calling capabilities, and a renewed resurgence of 3D television technology from Sony, LG and Panasonic.

Photo courtesy of  engadget mobile
 
The FutureAs CES continues through what is now its fifth decade of existence, it has seen its audience numbers swell over 10 times its comparatively humble beginnings in 1967. Major manufacturers and small companies alike clamor for booth space on the show floor each year, with impressively spacious warehouse-size displays from giants like Sony and Samsung, and sometimes eye-popping booth setups that dazzle and entertain as much as they inform.Attendees from over 140 countries including manufacturers, retailers, content creators, developers, wireless carriers, government leaders, financial analysts, and media professionals will descend upon Las Vegas once again this coming January 2010. Whether you come for the technology, the trend-spotting or just the spectacle, there’s always sure to be something significant unveiled at the annual Consumer Electronics Show.
What's your pick for best of CES at this year's show?