Consumer Electronics Show CES , which is traditionally held in January in Las Vegas, is used by leading high-tech companies to announce the most interesting novelties of computer and home appliances, as well as mobile electronics.
The industry’s attention to the show is largely due to the fact that it opens the calendar year and is held in the largest and most developed regional market, the U.S. Unlike other major forums in the hightech industry, CES is closed to the public, but its novelties are widely covered in the press. About 140,000 tech industry professionals and journalists are expected to attend this year’s show, which ends Friday. More than 2,700 companies from 140 countries participate in the exhibition.
One of the main themes of CES 2012 should be mobile electronics. A number of companies are going to exhibit advanced devices based on the new version of the Android 4 platform.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, tablets with quad-core ARM processors and smartphones with LTE high-speed cellular support. Many major computer manufacturers are planning to use CES 2012 to announce their models of ultrabooks – thin and light laptops, characterized by high performance and long battery life.
It is expected that due to lower prices and wide range of models ultrabooks that run on Intel processors will become a worthy competitor to the popular Apple MacBook Air notebook. Though Apple, the largest and most established player in mobile industry, is not participating in CES, its influence can be clearly seen at the exhibition in the expositions of manufacturers of accessories, developers of online services and services.
The Windows 8 operating system, which Microsoft plans to release in late 2012, will also have a major impact on the mobile electronics sector. At CES both personal computers and tablets based on this platform will be demonstrated.
Also Nokia, the world’s largest cell phone maker, is using the show to promote its Windows Phone smartphones to the U.S. market.
One of the interesting innovations in the consumer sector at CES 2012 should be large-format OLED TVs from Samsung and LG which will gradually migrate from the fabulously expensive niche solutions to the mass market. OLED screens, which have already found wide application in mobile electronics, differ from traditional liquid crystal displays with brighter, richer colors, compact size and wide viewing angles.
A record number of auto industry companies including Audi, Chrysler, Ford, Daimler take part in CES this year, which reflects gradual integration of more and more electronic components and means of communication in cars. The CES has been held in the USA since 1967 by the Consumer Electronics Association.
