#CES | Brief history of CES: 1967-2012

Next week will begin the legendary CES (Consumer Electronic Show), which, if you do not know, is held in Las Vegas for the forty-sixth time. Preparing to face the future, in this material we will take a short excursion into the past and see how the unimportant event evolved into one of the most authoritative technology exhibitions in the world.

In 2012, the official number of CES visitors exceeded 156,000 people. According to the Association of Consumer Electronics, which holds the exhibition, this is a record number in the history of the show. Nevertheless, behind the scenes of each exhibition held in Las Vegas, insiders and analysts whisper about the "death of CES", and this has been going on for several years. Of course, the industry is undergoing major changes, and presentations of once-important products no longer have the same significance as before. Many companies have reduced the number of products they represent, and some even refused to participate in exhibitions in favor of holding their own events in order to draw maximum attention to their new products.

But despite this, over the 46-year history of CES, exhibition attendance has continuously increased, and analysts are predicting another record for this year. In the meantime, the show has not started, let's enjoy these interesting and sometimes touching photos from the history of CES.

1967

The first Consumer Electronics Show was held in June 1967 in New York. There were 14 participants in the show in total, including companies such as LG, Motorola and Philips. At that time, CES was a kind of appendage to the Chicago Music Show.

You'd be surprised, but even in 1967 at the exhibition one could already see a lot of spectacular photo models, which were called “CES Guides”. The first CES was marked by increased dominance of solid-state electronic devices and a real avalanche of products from Japanese manufacturers.

1969

CES-69, which took place in the same New York hotels as the previous exhibitions, was remembered by the presentation of a compact Panasonic TV weighing less than a kilogram, as well as stereo FM headphones, in which, according to the New York Times, the man looked like “a guest from Mars ".

The 1969 exhibition was dominated by products related to radio and television. In addition, at the event, the chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission expressed concern that the industry was not making enough efforts to combat “unfair and dishonest” practices against consumers.

1971

In 1971, CES moved to Chicago, where it will run until 1977. The main event of the exhibition was the Sony U-Matic video recorder, which will go on the market in the same year.

One of the main phenomena at the 1971 exhibition was the audio equipment: eight-track tapes, as well as blank recordable tape. Another hit was the headphones, which not only decreased in size, but also cheaper. Nevertheless, they still remained rather expensive: the usual pair of “ears” then cost about $ 50, which in terms of our days will be more than $ 150. By the way, in 1971 more than 275 companies visited CES.

1972

By 1972, the number of CES guests had grown to 40,000, more than double the number in the very first year. As for the participating companies, their number has already reached 300. The hottest things of this year were car radios, which became much better next year, and, of course, headphones. Since 1973, CES has been held twice a year.

1974

The laser disc player made its debut in the United States at CES in 1974, although it went on sale only four years later. This year was also marked by the fact that CES entered into a partnership with the National Association of Record Sellers (NARM).

1975

In 1975, the main theme of CES was music again, but it should be noted about the gaming novelty - the Pong home console, which became the successor of the Breakout hit from Atari.

1977

By 1977, CES attendance reached another psychological mark, exceeding 50,000 people. And the number of participants in the winter exhibition exceeded 500. The cheapest electronic watch became the main hit of that year: their prices started from $ 20 for a model from Texas Instruments.

1978

In 1978, the first CES exhibition took place in Las Vegas (Nevada), and this city remains the venue of the show to this day. From 1978 to 1995, the summer exhibition will also be held in Chicago, but a larger winter will settle in Vegas.

At the Chicago Summer Exhibition in 78, the ball was once again ruled by musical technology, and the number of visitors began to grow even faster.

1979

At the CES winter show in 1979, Atari showed two eight-bit computers - the Atari 400 and Atari 800.

1980

In 1980, the promotion and advertising booth was opened for the first time at CES, the purpose of which was to help the industry find innovative ways to advertise its electronics on radio and television.

1982

In 1981, CES hosted the premiere of a CD and personal video camera, and the 1982 show was remembered for the first appearance of devices such as the Commodore 64 computer and the game console Western Technologies Vectrex.

1984

In 1984, CES attendance in winter and summer time broke all records: nearly 100,000 people visited each of the exhibitions. The journalist of the InfoWorld edition Scott Mace (Scott Mace) nevertheless noted that, according to his feelings, the interest in the exhibition began to subside. Mace, perhaps, was the first frequenter of the exhibition, who rather felt stagnation rather than innovation. He noted that only “mediocre” entertainment technologies and games were presented that year, and complained that the golden years of CES seem to be over. But with all this, in 1984 at the exhibition was presented Amiga home computer, which was a lot.

1985

The 1985 CES came into history as an event that featured the epoch-making Nintendo Entertainment System game console, although at the time it was called the Nintendo Advanced Video System.

1988

In the winter of 1988, Tetris was introduced at CES, after which Henk Rogers published it, which put it into each console of the Nintendo Game Boy in 1989.

1990

By 1990, the year, as the Popular Mechanics magazine writes, the winter CES show in Las Vegas had finally surpassed the Chicago summer show in popularity. The show of 1990, the article says, was visited by more than 1,600 journalists. This marked a trend that continues to this day: from now on, the main visitors to CES are representatives of the press rather than ordinary consumers from the street.

1993

1992 was marked by the fact that for the first time Apple took part in CES. Then, as part of the official presentation, the head of the company, John Scully, introduced the Newton handheld computer. And in 1993, Sony arranged the premiere of the MiniDisc, a compact player with a disc capable of containing up to 74 minutes of sound (at that time it was overwhelming). Officially, MiniDisc was discontinued only in 2011.

1995

In 1994, four CES shows took place at once: one in Las Vegas, two in Chicago and one in Mexico City. And in 1995, the exhibition was held in Philadelphia.

1997

In 1997, the CES show in Las Vegas took place on an area of ​​about 100,000 square meters, and later it even doubled. There were also more modest shows in Atlanta and Dallas, but from 1999 to the present day CES began to take place once a year and only in Vegas.

2003

After in 1999 CES felt a fair wind, the number of not only visitors and participants, but also invited stars began to grow. 2003 began with a long series of shows, in which the main star was Microsoft Corporation, and Bill Gates often acted as a moderator. 2003 is also remembered for the advent of the Blu-ray disc format.

2005

By 2005, CES was the largest technology exhibition in the world with 150,000 visitors. With the development of blogs, broadcasts from the show began to lead all and sundry, which allowed a wide audience around the world to receive the latest information about new products. As for the emergence of celebrities, it has become in the order of things. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates continued his series of presentations, and in 2008 announced the resignation at one of them.

2012

Microsoft continued its presentations in 2012, although without the participation of Gates. Last year's show, which broke all records for space and attendance, signaled changes in the landscape of the consumer electronics market. At the same time, it became obvious that such major exhibitions as CES expect serious metamorphosis.

2013

Finally, look into the future. This year's CES will be opened with a speech by the head of Qualcomm, Paul Jacobs (Paul Jacobs). What this exhibition is preparing for us is not yet known to us. But be sure: you will quickly find out about all the notable new items presented during the show on our website. So stay with us and do not go far!

Source: TheVerge.com

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