Consumer Electronics Show, a.k.a. CES, is dominating business headlines this week, as tech companies vie for attention at this annual gathering of 100,000 plus gadget happy people.
According to Los Angeles Times, the Las Vegas trade show is inundated with iPad-like tablet computers, iPhone-like smart phones and Internet-enabled televisions to rival Apple TV. There is even an “iLounge” that will feature companies hawking carrying cases, docking bays, car chargers and other accessories for Apple products.
But no Apple. Not as CES, or any other trade show.
Apple stopped participating in industry trade shows altogether in 2009, when it withdrew from the Apple-centric MacWorld conference, where for years Chief Executive Steve Jobs took the stage to show off the company’s new products. Now Apple, whose market capitalization recently passed $300 billion to make it the second most valuable U.S. company behind Exxon Mobil Corp., makes product announcements on its own timeline.
Apple’s brand boldness is either maddening, or genius, or both, depending on where you are on the Apple Love Spectrum.
Apple has sold more than 13 million iPads, which start at $499. Let’s see what Toshiba’s got to offer by comparison: