January 1997: CES Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

Mardi, 04 Janvier 2011 13:00

January 1997: CES Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

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1997: The Consumer Electronics Show, previously a semi-annual event in Las Vegas and Chicago, becomes a Las Vegas annual. The show is on.

Organizers held the first CES in New York City from June 24 to 28, 1967. The 200 exhibitors attracted 17,500 attendees to the Hilton and Americana hotels over

those four days. On view: the latest pocket radios and TVs sporting (gasp!) integrated circuits.

CES Debuts

1970 VCR
1976 Cheap digital watches
1974 Laserdisc player
1975 Atari Pong home console
1977 VHS VCR
1978 Early home computers
1981 Camcorder
1981 Compact Disc player
1982 Commodore 64 computer
1984 Amiga computer
1985 Nintendo Entertainment System
1988 Tetris
1990 Digital Audio Technology
1991 Compact Disc-Interactive
1993 Mini Disc
1993 Radio Data System
1994 Digital Satellite System
1996 DVD
1998 HDTV
1999 DVR
2000 Digital Audio Radio
2001 Microsoft Xbox
2001 Plasma TV
2002 Home Media Server
2003 HD Radio
2003 Blu-ray DVD
2005 IP TV
2006 New digital content services
2007 New tech-content convergence
2008 OLED TV
2009 Palm Pre
2010 3-D TVs

The next year, CES occupied three New York hotels. One radio on display was small enough to wear on your wrist, but it was no Dick Tracy–style transceiver. For two-way communication, you needed the wonder of the age: a Portable Executive Telephone. It cost more than $2,000 (that’s $12,500 in today’s money), weighed 19 pounds and required an FCC license to operate.

Many new products and concepts have debuted at CES over the years. (See box at left.) Some have come and gone, others have come and stayed.

CES moved to Chicago in 1972 and went to two shows a year there in 1973. By 1978, the show fell into a regular rhythm: The Winter CES took place in Las Vegas in January, and the Summer CES was a June affair in Chicago.

Chicago dropped out of the picture after 1994. The Las Vegas show grew year by year, but the Chicago show was losing its luster. So, the Consumer Electronics Association decided to rotate the June show around the country.

Problem was, the dates picked for the June 1995 show in Philadelphia conflicted with the E3 gaming show on the West Coast. Exhibitors raised a stink, and the June CES was canceled.

There was one more summer show — in Orlando, Florida, in 1996. Only two dozen exhibitors signed up for a proposed 1997 spring CES in Atlanta. It was canceled, along with the whole idea of holding two shows a year.

Las Vegas was king. Las Vegas still reigns.

The CES 2010 drew more than 126,000 people, a 12 percent increase from the previous year, according to an independent audit released by organizers. That included more than 24,000 international visitors from 136 countries. Organizers announced that 330 new companies joined the more than 2,500 exhibitors to unveil an estimated 20,000 new products.

The Consumer Electronics Association also said each person attending the show averages 12 meetings, resulting in a total of 1.7 million meetings. That’s 1.7 megameets in our book.

Dates for future Consumer Electronics Shows — all in Las Vegas — are set right through 2022.

CES 2011 runs Jan. 6 through Jan. 9, and Wired.com will be there to give you full coverage.

Source: Various

Photo: Visitors flock to CES 2009.
Jon Snyder/Wired.com

This January 2010 article has been updated.

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