GLOBAL – Half the team are currently on their way to Las Vegas. Why? Because next week sees the arrival of CES (Consumer Electronics Show), one of the year’s biggest showcases of new technology.

The CES show has run since 1967 and seen the first introduction of many of the most important innovations in consumer technology over the years. Around 20,000 new products are launched every year at the show.

Landmark launches include the first VCR (1970), the first camcorder (1981), the Amiga computer (1984) and the original NES console (1985). More recent years have seen the unveiling of the first HDTV, Blu-Ray discs and a slew of leading smartphones.

Despite the name, CES isn’t open to the public. Rather, it’s where manufacturers unveil their latest wares to potential retailers and operators, and well as hordes of tech journalists (around 6500 journalists and bloggers attended last year).

The scale of the thing is vast: judging from last year’s figures, there’ll be more than 40,000 exhibitors alone. Here’s a map of the upper level of the south hall at one of the two venues:

Nokia will be there in full force, of course, with its own stand (South 3 – 31409) and a press conference on Monday PM (Pacific Time). 

There’ll be full coverage right here, so check back then to see what happens as it happens.

image credit: Bert Kaufmann