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CES: ON THE AGENDA
January 13, 2007
Antony Bruno
As usual, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will feature a horde of attendees crowding multimedia booths and jamming taxi lines beyond the limits of patience.
Activities will take place across four venues: the Las Vegas Convention Center, the connecting Las Vegas Hilton, the Sands Convention Center and small portions of the Venetian Hotel.
In all, there will be more than 2,700 exhibitors and 140,000 attendees.
Here are expected highlights of the event:
Microsoft chairman/founder Bill Gates will give his traditional preshow keynote at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 7. Get there early if you want to avoid getting crammed into a satellite viewing room.
The main stage proves very content-heavy this year with Walt Disney president/CEO Robert Iger presenting at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 8 and CBS president/CEO Leslie Moonves at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 9.
Other keynoters include Motorola chairman/CEO Ed Zander at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 8 and Nokia president/CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo at 11 a.m. as part of the Industry Insider series.
On Jan. 9, 3 Doors Down will perform at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. on the ESPN stage in the Las Vegas Convention Center's Grand Lobby. The band's members serve as spokesmen for CES' Great Audio Experience.
The CES, the RIAA and the National Music Publishers' Assn. are sponsoring a TechZone display called the Download—a showcase of various digital music download technologies and services focusing on legal peer-to-peer services and collaborative technologies. It will be held at the Anytime-Anywhere TechArena in the Sands Convention Center.
Among the SuperSessions, the "Content and CE Partnerships: Breaking New Ground" panel aims to explore the rift between content owners and hardware manufacturers and find some common ground. Los Angeles Times reporter Dawn Chmielewski will moderate. Speakers include Akimbo Systems CEO Josh Goldman, Deloitte & Touche deputy managing partner Tony Kern, Walt Disney Internet Group executive VP of business development and operations Larry Shapiro, AOL Mobile VP/chief technical evangelist Mike Wehrs and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group senior VP Jim Wuthrich.
Preshow conferences on Jan. 7 include Mobile Entertainment and Digital Hollywood. Speakers include Interscope/Geffen/A&M head of new media KamranV CyKik, Epic Records digital media marketing and promotion executive Grayson Brulte, TAG Strategic managing partner Ted Cohen and iMesh executive chairman Robert Summer.
