As a stopgap until the next in-person CES trade show – hopefully a year from now – the all-digital CES 2021 was at best adequate. It provided the bare-bones for the tech industry to meet and discuss trends and issues.
I can only speak as a journalist covering the show, so I don’t know how much commerce was facilitated by the online CES 2021.
From a news perspective, the large companies dominated through keynote addresses, press conferences and product introductions.
What was sorely missing was the ability to learn about startups, up-and-coming companies and cool new tech. Normally that takes place by walking the exhibit floor and attending side events during CES. That was next to impossible with the online setup.
And with consumer electronics, people need to touch and feel the products to understand their appeal. A press release, photos and video aren’t enough.
My feelings are shared by other journalists and analysts.
“The single biggest problem was product discovery,” tech journalist Lance Ulanoff said in a blog post about the show. “Even with half the number of exhibitors (approximately 2,000 as opposed to 4,000 in 2020), it was damn near impossible to find hidden gems.”
The show organizers – the Consumer Technology Association – should have done a better job with the online exhibitor directory, which was basic, Ulanoff said.
Patrick McGee, San Francisco correspondent for the Financial Times, had similar complaints.
“The dizzying experience of stumbling upon hundreds of startups in a Las Vegas convention center proved impossible to replicate with the clicks of a mouse,” McGee said.
A postmortem of the event by Engadget longed for the physical CES.
“We particularly missed being able to wander The Sands and learn about smaller, up-and-coming startups,” Engadget said. “And if seeing is believing, the oddest entries at the show remain locked behind our computer screens, with no chance of getting hands-on time.”
Overall, CES “felt less exciting” as a virtual event, wrote Lauren Goode, a senior writer at Wired. “It’s hard to determine the viability of any product by watching a slick video about it.”
At CES, I want to try on the newest smart glasses, interact with robots, see those flying-car prototypes up close, and experience all the crazy tech that just might be the next big thing.
I can only hope that the world beats back the Covid-19 pandemic so there can be a physical CES 2022. It’s currently scheduled for Jan. 5-8, 2022, in Las Vegas.
Related articles:
Celebrities at CES 2021: Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Kaley Cuoco and more (Jan. 17, 2021)
Celebrities at CES 2021 (Jan. 17, 2021)
CES 2021 buzzword of the show: pandemic (Jan. 17, 2021)
CES 2021 news in review: AMD, Best Buy, Deere, Intel, Microsoft make waves (Jan. 16, 2021)
CES 2021 in review (Jan. 16, 2021)
Photo: Las Vegas resorts and attractions showed their support for an in-person CES convention with an orchestrated marquee display hours before the start of the virtual CES 2021. (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority)
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