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Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was held at Las Vegas, Nevada from January 8–11, 2007. The show witnessed more than 20,000 product launches and major partnership announcements from industries, connecting consumers with more features, services and control of the content incorporated into electronic devices. A new convergence of CE devices emerged on the show floor, combining existing product categories with new digital content and services to create unique and multi-functional products. The Consumer Electronics Association in Las-Vegas presents CES, and this year it celebrated its 40th anniversary. With 1.8 mn net sq ft of exhibit space, 140,000 attendees from across the globe and 2,700 exhibitors, and more than 360 wireless exhibitors participated in the mega show. Wireless-specific conference sessions were held, and TechZones, such as Bluetooth and Connected Home Entertainment-which featured the latest in wireless technologies and content-on-the-go products-were exhibited. The show also represented all facets of the wireless ecosystem including mobile content creators, wireless device manufacturers and wireless accessories. Some of the major wireless players were International CES include AT&T, Audiovox, CellStar, LG Electronics, Logitech, Motorola, NetGear, Nokia and Samsung. CES reinforced its status as the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow.

The Buzzwords
'Convergence' and 'content' were the buzzwords at this year's CES. Almost all the prominent speakers during the show spoke on these topics. Defining consumer aspiration of a converged platform at the launch of Windows Vista during the show, Bill Gates said, "I want my music when I'm in the car, when I'm at home, when I'm in the living room. I want that to be simple. I want my family's schedule, and the ease of updating it, from the phone, the PC, just touching something on the refrigerator. I want to collaborate with people. I want to have the experience connect up to people at work, as well as at home". He called it a 'connected experience'. Further he added, "The content people now need to think about how they create around this environment, how they connect into it. It's an environment where people want to do things across multiple devices, working with many other people." Gates announced partnership between Microsoft and Ford to deliver Sync, a voice-activated intelligent means to connect personal electronic devices to vehicles, including a wide range of mobile phones, storage media, and portable music players.

Major equipment makers made content partnership announcements. And, content providers such as Yahoo! announced its partnership with phone manufacturers Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Research In Motion (RIM) to include its new software on some of their devices. Yahoo! also tied up with Akimbo Internet-to-TV video-on-demand service to bring Yahoo! video to the TV. At the show, Time Warner and AOL announced a partnership with Sony to allow people to watch AOL Video-including a library of classic TV shows, music videos and sporting events-on a TV set. In a spate of deals that could undercut the role of cable and satellite companies, several TV networks including Nickelodeon, Showtime and Starz have reached agreements with Microsoft to let people watch their Web programming on TV sets, Xbox 360 or any computer equipped with its new Windows Vista operating system.

Apart from Bill Gates, CES also featured speakers like Motorola's Ed Zander, who discussed the growth opportunities in the wireless industry, Disney's Robert Iger, Dell's Michael Dell and CBS' Leslie Moonves. The CES Industry Insider Series, with a new home at the Las Vegas Hilton Theater, featured industry heavyweights including Nokia's Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo and Cisco's John Chambers, as well as leading executives from major broadband, cable, satellite and telecommunications companies, and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.