For many people in the technology industry, the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off this week in Las Vegas is like the Super Bowl, Christmas and an epic game of show and tell all rolled into one.
Each January, the biggest names in the technology world gather under the neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip to showcase the latest tech toys dreamt up in their research and development labs and to offer the world a sneak peak at the hottest gadgets for the year ahead.
Over the years, CES has been the stage for the unveiling of landmark technological innovations, including the VCR, CD players, HDTVs and Microsoft's Xbox.
More than 2,500 companies will be on hand this year, surrounded by more than 100,000 journalists, bloggers, analysts and industry bigwigs, all on the lookout for what's going to be hot in the world of consumer electronics in 2010.
CES comes at a crucial time for the technology and consumer electronics industries. Many economists and financial experts believe a recovery in the tech sector can act as a leading indicator and that the broader economy will soon be on the mend.
Ever since a handful of tech bellwethers -- including International Business Machines Corp., Google Inc. and Intel Corp. -- reported strong results in October, talk of a tech recovery has only grown louder.
Last week, the tech sector reclaimed the top spot in S&P 500 weighting -- surpassing financial stocks -- after beginning 2009 a distant second, according to Thomson Reuters.
Information technology stocks accounted for 19.87% market representation, more than five percentage points more than financials at the close of trading last week.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq composite index finished 2009 up more than 40%, hovering near a 15-month high.
With CES set to begin officially on Wednesday, technology companies -- many of which laid low throughout the recession, cutting expenses and introducing low-cost models of popular products -- are hoping the worst of the economic crisis has passed and consumers will regain their appetite for digital cameras, high-definition televisions and smartphones.
Last year, Palm Inc.'s Pre smartphone was the greatest buzz generator at CES, and this year the most anticipated gadget expected to make its debut is another smartphone.
Rumours are swirling that search-engine kingpin Google Inc. will unveil its first company-branded smartphone, the Nexus One, during a press conference tomorrow at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The device itself is expected to make its first public appearance at CES.
Like last year, 3D televisions are likely to be the talk of CES this week. However, unlike last year when electronics manufacturers stuck to showing off prototypes, heavyweights Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. are due to unveil 3D TVs that consumers will be able to purchase this year.
For some manufacturers, 3D TVs will take a back seat to super-slim TVs. LG Electronics Inc. will be showcasing the world's thinnest LCD TV, measuring just 2.6 millimetres thick.
Following the lead of Amazon.com Inc.' s Kindle device, many manufacturers are believed to be preparing e-readers to gain a foothold in the rapidly expanding market for digital books. Netbooks and other small computers that bridge the gap between a laptop and a smartphone -- many running Microsoft Corp.'s recently released Windows 7 -- are also expected to be popular.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. will have a booth on the convention floor, but the Waterloo, Ont.-based company isn't expected to make any major announcements regarding new handsets.
When computer giant Apple Inc. announced last year that it would no longer attend the annual Macworld Conference & Expo, which is typically held in January about the same time as CES, beginning in 2010, many industry observers speculated that Steve Jobs would make an appearance in Las Vegas.
However, Apple isn't expected to be at CES this year, which means Mac fans will likely have to await a still unofficial Apple event, believed to be scheduled for the end of January, for a peak at the company's rumoured tablet-style computer, which has been creating buzz online for several months.
