Microsoft was absent at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, citing that the company’s announcements did not align with the January held event. A recent statement by the president of the Consumer Electronics Association, Gary Shapiro, revealed that Microsoft would in fact be returning to the International technology show for 2014.
The multinational technology company is not planning to hold their keynote speech at the event, but it has been revealed that they have booked meeting rooms. Shapiro has stated that the conference meeting room space Microsoft has booked is “actually a larger presence than I believe they have ever had”.
When Microsoft pulled out of last year’s event, analysts were concerned for the future of the Consumer Electronics Show. Microsoft was one of the largest players at the event, and their back out might have signaled a slow demise for the show as a major event.
With Microsoft returning to CES, Shapiro has emphasized how close the company has worked with the Consumer Electronics Association:
“We have had a tremendous partnership [with Microsoft] going back to the very beginning. You know we had one little blip this year, but now we’re happy to have them back with a physical presence.”
Microsoft released a brief statement claiming that they had never actually left the CES event and had a bit of presence at the previous 2013 holding. Even if Microsoft maintained a low presence this year, it still represented a major down shift from holding an annual company keynote address.
The Consumer Electronic Show is held in Las Vegas and still represents one of the largest technology shows in the world; last year, over 152,000 people attended the almost two million square foot venue. We would like to remind our readers that we will be present at CES 2014 in January and will be bringing you the latest news from Microsoft and its partners.
We are certainly happy to have Microsoft back at CES – are you?
Source: BBC UK; Thanks, StevePT, for the tip
