CES shows the power of sexy

The Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas Jan. 9-12, showed that hot new products can warm a cold economic climate as it picked up the gauntlet as the biggest trade show in North America. (The computer industry's shrinking Comdex show used to hold the title.)

At show's close, CES officials said the annual event drew 116,687 attendees and more than 2,000 exhibitors who gobbled up 1.25 million net square feet of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Among the stars of the show were recordable DVD players. Panasonic bragged it owned 50 percent of the burgeoning recordable DVD category, however nearly every other consumer electronics manufacturer, including Sony and Toshiba, has either rolled out or is in the process of launching its version of the technology.

Perhaps the most visible product at the show was high-definition television with the likes of Zenith, Pioneer and others showing off sets that are as slim as they are big. Zenith, for example, highlighted a 52-inch integrated HDTV with tuner. Of course, part of the fun is what to show on these TVs. And Microsoft, with its Xbox Live online gaming network, wants to flash across every living room. It announced it sold 250,000 starter kits during the holidays, which the company heralded as a solid beginning.

An overriding theme was convergence as products like cell phones and personal digital assistants have been expanded beyond their original functions to display digital images and play MP3 audio files. Additionally, the PC will control all of the electronics in the home if Bill Gates has anything to do with it. "The place where it all comes together, your video and audio and your preferences, is the PC," said the Microsoft Chairman during his opening keynote address. Other keynotes included Sony Corp. President Kunitake Ando, Intel Corp. CEO Craig Barrett and Texas Instruments CEO Tom Engibous.

CES demonstrates the power of this hot merchandise category. The consumer electronics industry as a whole increased by 3.7 percent in 2002 to set a record for total factory sales of $96.2 billion, according to the Arlington, Va.,-based Consumer Electronics Association.

--Kenneth Hein