HKEIA Activities
2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, USA from 7th to 10th January 2008/1/18
The CES, which has a history of 40 years, is the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow. Featuring 2,700 exhibitors in more than 1.7 million net square feet of space, and attended by more than 140000 industry professionals with 25000 of them from 140 countries outside USA, the 2008 show was the largest yet. The show was geographically spilt into 3 areas i.e. the Las Vegas Convention Centre, the Sands Expo and convention Centre / Venetian and the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. Featuring 30 product categories within 9 key consumer technology markets, including audio, digital imaging, gaming, home-networking, home theatre / video, in-vehicle technology, wireless communications etc, the show was also home to more than 175 conference sessions and 300 industry speakers from some of the biggest corporations.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates - delivered the pre-show keynote address on 6 January, highlighting the company's partnership with NBC and MSN as exclusive on-line partner for the Beijing Olympic.
On 7 January, CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro opened the morning keynote with the annual state of the industry address, with the theme being centered on free trade as the lifeblood of the industry and the cornerstone of the American economy. Then, Mr. Sakamoto of Panasonics took the center stage and introduced his company's breakthrough technology in plasma HD TV display, featuring super thin profile (1 inch) and the largest screen in the world (150 inches) with high 2160 X 4096 pixel resolution - 4 times the resolution of the newest 1080P specification.
In the afternoon of 7 January, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini gave an address on Intel's plans to push into chips to support a new type of wireless data device service for cell phones and other devices called WIMAX. Citing the result of surveys which indicated that customers are eager for a device that could give them the equivalent of full web access in their pocket - a web-oriented device with a screen a little bigger than a cell phone and greater processing power, Inter hopes soon to supply a chip code-named Silverthorne for MIDS or Mobile Internet Device. Other big companies like Qualcomm and Sony are betting on similar devices and Sony has already launched a device called MYLO for college students using WIFI wireless network. It is projected that 3 million MIDs would be sold in 2008 and 34 million units would be sold worldwide in 2010.
On day 2 i.e. 8 January of the show, General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner gave an address on GM's strategy in trying to change buyers' conception of GM, i.e. from a conservative car-maker into one pushing the technological edge on in-vehicle electronics. In future, GM cars will be crammed with cameras, sensors, radar and navigational technologies. In fact, during the show, GM introduced a self-drive car to demonstrate its viewpoint, although some skeptics would doubt its practicality in the real world.
In the home theatre / video sector, the high definition format war between HD DVD led by Toshiba and Blue-ray led by Sony was the focus of attention at the show, during which Time-Warner declared its sole backing for Blue-ray disc. Although Microsoft is backing HDDVD, Time-Warner's stance is expected to tilt the balance towards Blue-ray. With software market captured up to 75% already, many predict that the HD market will be won by Blue-ray technology. In addition, Sony also introduced at its stand a new 32" TV set using OLED technology and wireless 1080P full HD connectivity. This became the star of the show and Sony's latest innovative venture into the home video market.
Hong Kong electronics industry has been actively participating in CES for many years and in 2008, organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the Hong Kong Pavilion located in Hilton Hotel comprised a total of 59 exhibitors, of which 8 are members of the Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association. The latter included Fujikon Industrial Co. Ltd., Coulomb Electronics Ltd., Binatone Electronics International Ltd., Group Sense Ltd., Hena Group Co. Ltd., Kenwin Industrial (HK) Ltd., Minwa Electronics Co. Ltd. and Starline International Group Ltd.
iView Ltd., another member of HKEIA, demonstrated their new generation Lightview ? LDP-SVGA microdisplay for their Pico-projector at CES'08 at Displaytech's private suite. iView's CEO Dr. S. Yeung is confident that combined with Displaytech's FLCO technology and iView's proprietary optical design. iView's Pico-projector will have unsurpassed image resolution and power efficiency for commercialization in 2008.