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Summary Latest TVs, tablets, phones and ultrabooks set to be unveiled at Consumer Electronics Show 2012.
The worlds biggest technology trade show will feature razor-thin laptops, powerful new smartphones and fancy flat-screen TVs, but talk in the cavernous halls of the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicks off on Monday night, may focus on whether the show itself has a long-term future.Apple Inc, which has set the agenda in consumer electronics for the past decade, does not even attend the show. Microsoft Corp, desperately trying to catch up, is making this show its last. It has been a few years since Las Vegas-based CES had the wow factor.Theres a lot of hype. The promise exceeds the deliverable a lot, said Todd Lowenstein, portfolio manager at HighMark Capital Management, which owns several technology stocks. I take an interest in it only to the extent that theres market-moving information that comes out of there, which I find is rare.Steve Jobs stylish and dramatic product launches came to dominate the popular tech world, and rivals are looking to copy that outside of the hubbub and razzmatazz of CES in Las Vegas.A lot of companies are trying to imitate Apples success in a lot of areas, and one area where Apple has been extremely successful is in controlling its message by controlling the event and the timetable of its announcements, said Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, a business intelligence firm.Microsoft, which is trying to win back its technology crown from Apple and newcomer Google Inc, has long said that CES in early January does not fit its product release timetable, meaning it has little new to share in the opening keynote, which has for years been given by Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, and before him by co-founder Bill Gates.
