An estimated 150,000 people are expected to visit the Las Vegas Convention Center this week for the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show. More than 3,000 companies are expected to showcase 20,000 new products—from amazing smartphone cases to dream cars. The show opens its doors to 5,000 journalists on Monday night, and on Tuesday, the Electronics Industry Association welcomes professionals from around the world. The show runs through Jan. 11.
Microsoft will be conspicuous by its absence
This is the first year since 1995 that Microsoft will be absent from the show. Bill Gates was the show's chief executive for several years, with Steven Ballmer succeeding him until 2012. This year, the head of Microsoft will not take the stage to give the famous Keynote. After 15 years, the role of Microsoft will be taken over, at least this year, by Dr. Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, a company that has been selling chips for mobile devices "by the bag" in recent years. Jacobs' speech is titled "Born Mobile", another sign that the PC has been dethroned. Microsoft will be absent from CES altogether, but all eyes will turn to the company again when, before January ends, we see the first tablet of its own manufacture with Intel Inside, the Surface Pro with Windows 8 Pro. In addition, CES will not be without Lenovo, Asus and other computer manufacturers who will show off PCs with new designs and Windows 8 - besides, Intel will be there and everything indicates that it will insist on Ultrabooks.
Other major absentees
However, Dell and Hewlett Packard will also be absent from the show and the exhibition will be dominated by affordable 7-inch tablets of all kinds and the ARM architecture will have its place of honor.
Traditionally absent from CES are Apple, Amazon, Google (as well as Motorola). Nokia and HTC will also give way to Sony - which is rumored to announce a smartphone or two, although its attention is focused on television -, Intel (which last year said a lot about expensive things, as it turned out, Ultrabooks) but also to Eastern network equipment manufacturers such as ZTE and Huawei, who find fertile ground in the midst of a crisis to propose cheaper models.
The absence of major players from CES 2013 is understandable. Mobile World Congress takes over in February in Barcelona, and many companies are following Apple's lead, leaving big announcements for their own events (as Samsung).
Television, my love
Television is once again "present" with ultra HD technologies (also known as 4K LCD TV, four times higher resolution than today's high definition) and OLED to make the image sharper, the colors more vibrant and the frames invisible. However, prices are rising, and even a lot, perhaps too much. In the same sector, announcements are expected from Samsung (which has hinted that it will present a television with an extremely original design), LG (which will commercially release the first 55-inch OLED TV), Sony, Panasonic and other manufacturers.
Intel is also said to be entering their field, revealing its first television device and a subscription service that will allow the subscriber to choose the channels they want to watch, not ready-made packages (ala carte programming).
Kitt comes to life
Otherwise, the 173,728 square meters of CES 2013 will be occupied by… cars: the majority of car manufacturers will be there and have something to show, whether it concerns so-called infotainment or even self-driving cars. Ford, Audi, Chrysler, General Motors, Hyundai, Toyota, Subaru and Kia will be at CES - Audi and Toyota are said to be presenting "Kit-type" cars.
Finally, CES 2013 is expected to feature many gadgets and technology that aspire to bring us one step closer to the "smart home" with home automation that we cannot yet imagine.
