CES - Las Vegas - Set the Tone for Innovation

More than 2,700 global companies, including 300 new exhibitors, unveiled an estimated 20,000 new technology products at the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, electrifying the technology industry and helping lead the way to economic recovery
New trends unveiled at the 2009 CES will shape the future of consumer electronics, including 3D HDTV, advances in OLED, green technologies, Internet TV and digital entertainment. Produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)^®, the 2009 International CES^® ran January 8-11, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
More consumer technology business deals start at the International CES than any other event on earth. The success of the 2009 International CES gives us optimism that innovation will restart the world’s economic engine.”
The level of excitement on the CES show floor was at an all-time high with ground-breaking technologies such as the Palm Pre, Sony’s flexible OLED display, 3D HDTV, Yahoo!’s TV Widget, LG’s Watch Phone and a 1/3 inch thin energy efficient Plasma HDTV from Panasonic,” said Karen Chupka, senior vice president, events and conferences, CEA. “Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer announced Windows 7 Beta at his pre-CES keynote and the download response was so high, it overloaded their systems.”

The 2009 International CES featured addresses from dynamic industry leaders including Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, Sony’s Sir Howard Stringer, Ford’s Allan Mulally and Intel’s Dr. Craig Barrett and Cisco’s John Chambers as part of the Technology and Emerging Countries program.

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation, delivered his first CES keynote address on Wednesday evening. Ballmer discussed the economy and noted that the challenges we face today should be viewed with optimism. “No matter what happens with the economy, our digital lives will only get richer,” he said.

Ballmer outlined three opportunities that lay ahead for the technology industry – the convergence of the PC, phone and TV; a more natural consumer interaction with devices that will incorporate speech and hand gestures and the connected experience between devices.

Ballmer announced that Windows 7 is on track to deliver the ultimate Windows experience, complete with “simplicity, reliability and speed.” A beta version will be available for worldwide download on Friday. Ballmer also announced exciting partnerships with Facebook, Verizon and Dell, which will pre-install Windows Live and Live Search on its entire consumer line of PCs.

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