Jason Kicks Off His CES Coverage

Which lines took longest to traverse, the one snaking round and round at the CES registration booth in Las Vegas’s Maccarran Airport, the ridiculously long one at the lost baggage counter at Southwest Airlines, or those at hotels on the strip that were overwhelmed by late night arrivals? I certainly know which moved faster.

Which leads to this photo. As much as it may look rather placid and fantasy like, it also reveals surprisingly light evening foot traffic in front of the Venetian hotel. Perhaps some of the drop in attendance had to do with the fact that on January 5, when so many people had intended to travel to Vegas for the four-day show, freezing rain and fog had caused the cancellation of many flights and diverted a host of others. (At least three of us who work for Stereophile first checked in after 1am.)

Did people, faced with numerous security restrictions and warnings of delays, as well as shamefully inflated hotel prices, simply say enough is enough? Or, at least as far as what is called the “high-performance audio” category is concerned, did a growing number of dealers, distributors, and companies decide to stay home and do business by Skype, in order to save up for the increasingly essential trip to Munich High End in May? All I know for certain is that, as far as the rooms I visited on the 34th floor of the Venetian and floor D of the Mirage Tower were concerned on the first day, traffic was light indeed.

COMMENTS
dennisdavis's picture

The weather may have been a factor; SFO was a nightmare, my flight cancelled 2 days in a row

audiocaptain's picture

I thought it might be interesting to note that we have had a huge bump in exhibitors who proclaim no more CES. We are even seeing a large number of companies from all over Asia and Europe that will become AXPONA regulars. Chicago is a great location for a rebirth of a truly international event for North America.

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