The world’s biggest technological trade fair surpassed organizers’ expectations and the numbers back them up. CES Las Vegas drew 153,000 visitors to the 167,000 square metres of exhibit space to marvel at (or be disappointed by) the new products offered by the 3,000 exhibitors. It was the 44th edition of the show, and the most impressive yet.
Television, or rather the new way of consuming television, seems to have been the star of the show. The growth of interactive TV-Internet, the consolidation of OLED technology and the new potential of the remote control monopolized visitors’ attention. Even the frenzy for the new OLED screens (which outdo LCDs in sharpness and energy consumption) found its way into the social media. According to the specialist site Mashable.com, OLED was the trending topic among participants at the show on Twitter, closely followed by ultrabooks, the term which covers all the new generation of tablets.
The much-heralded fusion of television and the web took shape in models presented by Samsung, Sony, and LG Electronics, among other firms. These new models include wireless connection and software destined to wipe out the difference between surfing the web and watching TV. Companies such as Frequency and Shodgg foresee that viewers of the future will have a whole range of facilities at their disposition to personalize content.
But it’s not just about what we’ll see, it’s about how we’ll do it. The traditional remote control will give way, sooner or later, to much more sophisticated substitutes with voice control, motion control, or even facial gesture recognition.
Laptops and brands
In tune with the facts from Mashable.com, ultrabooks were the second most popular tweet and one of the big attractions at CES. Users have opted for the advantages of these ultralight laptops with prolonged battery life and equipped with Windows. Companies such as Toshiba, Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung dominated the headlines. By the way, Samsung, together with LG and Microsoft received the symbolic recognition of being the three most-mentioned brands on Twitter.
The top ten was completed (in order of mentions) by Sony, Nokia, Intel, HP, AT&T, Panasonic and YouTube. Indirectly, this list gives us an answer to another important question about CES: the who’s who of the event.
