Today though, I want to share some interesting nuggets that you might not have known about CES.
1. The first show was held all the way back in June 1967 in New York City. This was a bolt on of the Chicago Music Show (not Chicago The Musical), which until that time was where consumer electronics were exhibited, the event had 17,500 attendees (an impressive number even then) and over 100 exhibitors.
2. Have you ever listened to a CD player or watched high-definition television or Blu-ray? Believe it or not, all of those products were new once — and they were launched at CES.
3. CES used to run twice a year with a winter show usually in Las Vegas and a summer show elsewhere. However in 1995 the summer show conflicted with the first E3 gaming show. Exhibitors protested and summer CES was cancelled. The following years summer shows were unsuccessful so in 1998 it changed to a once-a-year format with Las Vegas as the location.
4. Since 2006 there have been over 410,000 attendees at CES Las Vegas!
5. Late last year Microsoft announced that the 2012 event will be their last. “We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing,” Microsoft said in a statement.
CES kicks off tomorrow and we’re all waiting with bated breath to see what will be revealed by Nokia. What are you expecting to see and what would you like to see? Let us know in the comments section or @Nokia_Connects.