analysis CES 2012
So I'm back home in California after briefly visiting CES 2012 to cover the Steve Ballmer keynote speech.
Here was my take from my brief time at the conference.
I thought that the conference venue was warm and cramped and over crowded. The Venetian is a nice hotel in Vegas but compared to the BUILD conference, this wasn't a great experience.
In addition, it seemed that either:
- The air conditioning in the Venetian was broken or
- There were too many people in the hall and the air conditioning couldn't keep it cool
Either way, not a fun experience.
I know that CES is a much bigger conference than BUILD but it didn't seem very enjoyable to me. To be honest, I am not surprised that Microsoft is leaving. It's like an Egyptian Market Bazaar where all the vendors are trying to get your attention as you walk by.
There are a TON of tech items to see and as a result, everything seems very jumbled.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is CES. This has always been CES and I fear that this will always be CES. If you are a tech vendor with a cool gadget to show the press and the world, this will almost always be the place to go.
If you are Microsoft or Apple, there is absolutely ZERO value in coming here.
Much better to create your own conference, plan it properly and make your message the center of attraction.
Now, I went to check out Microsoft and new Windows 8 developments and like I feared, not much came out of the keynote.
What was announced? There is a new Kinect for Windows coming on February 1st.
If you look at my summary of the keynote speech, there was really nothing substantive announced. It was primarily a fancy reinforcement of things that would be revealed in the future. It was also live streamed on the web.
Now I'm really not trying to knock the conference (at all), I am just trying to give you (the reader) an honest look into what it was like. For young people who are into Las Vegas and Technology broadly, it would probably be a lot of fun.
If you're interested in covering a specific vendor like Microsoft, you're better off covering it from your home office.
Microsoft made the right decision.
What do you think? Are any of you at CES 2012?
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