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News » iPhone Market » CEA Not Holding Its Breath About Apple Coming Back to CES
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[15.01.2007]
Jobs' coups last week -- announcing the iPhone for June U.S. release, and on Apple TV, a PC-to-TV set multimedia box coming in Feb. -- are seen as showing Apple's determination to capitalize on its iPod smash and to reach much more broadly into CE. Jobs made that point when he said his company dropped the word "Computer," becoming Apple Inc. "They are really much more consumer electronics-centric" than the computer company Apple used to be, said Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies, a Silicon Valley consultant who has followed Apple closely for decades.
CEA overtures to member Apple about CES have included offers of a featured keynote slot for Jobs, most recently about 2 years ago, Chupka said: "We'll definitely offer Jobs a keynote at times... We would continue to invite them down the road." Apple management has said it would like to participate in CES but can't handle so great a commitment so close to the one it has to Macworld, she said. The shows are both in early Jan.; this year, as sometimes happens, they coincided. Organizers don't plan to change dates to prevent conflicts, they said. "It isn't the first time it's happened, and I'd probably be remiss to say that it won't happen" again, said Charlotte McCormack, PR mgr. for Macworld Expo parent IDG World Expo. But Apple doesn't need CES, Bajarin said, and IDG's McCormack agreed. Chupka said CES offers managements like Apple's an unparalleled chance to parley with executives from companies, including the top ones, across the spectrum of converging technology industries -- media companies, communications service providers and software makers as well as hardware and retail companies -- and to grab Wall Street's attention. But Jobs -- who's also Disney's largest individual shareholder -- has no trouble getting anyone he wants on the phone, Bajarin said. And even that's unnecessary when major companies flock to Apple's doorstep. When, with the iPod, Apple decided to broaden its sales channels a few years ago, "the Best Buys and Circuit Citys came to them," Bajarin said: "Apple never needed to go them." By the same token, even with Apple's rise in consumer technology, "CES will be just fine" without it, Bajarin said: "I can't see either of them saying they'll suffer without each other."
Apple's return to CES would end a long hiatus, not mark a reversal of course. In 1992, Apple introduced the visionary but ill-fated Newton PDA in Chicago at the midyear CES, an event discontinued soon after. Apple went to CES into the mid-1990s, Bajarin said. Apple didn't provide us a representative to interview. A spokeswoman said the company is swamped with media inquiries.
Invitations aimed at getting Apple back to CES aren't affected by the show's longstanding featured solo for arch- rival Bill Gates, usually the night before CES's main business starts, Chupka said. Gates, "an icon in the industry," has keynoted every year since 1997 and did so in 1995, she said. Despite his announced pullback from day-to- day involvement in Microsoft, Gates is set for a 2008 CES keynote. "We will take it from there," Chupka said. Gates makes for an irresistible keynoter because he's an international attention magnet, she said. And CEA likes to spotlight Microsoft and Intel, Chupka said, noting that they develop technology platforms, do co-branding and share the stage with CEA member partners. No company has a lock on a CES keynote, and Microsoft has no say about wooing Apple back, she said. Apple is known for liking more control over product development and branding. "They're already in control of their B2B relationship, and I can't see them changing strategies at this time, when everything they're doing now is working so well," Bajarin said.
This year, Jobs held much of the media limelight. "He dramatically upstaged CES, at least" Tues., Bajarin said. IDG's McCormack said some journalists told her Jobs' star turn had been the talk of the CES newsroom, prompting them to leave Las Vegas to cover the CEO's Macworld keynote. Chupka was too busy with her show to know how the publicity played out, she said: "I don't even know what goes on at Macworld." She didn't have a feel for how many reporters left CES for San Francisco, she said: "It did seem like we had a very, very strong press presence."
A Fri. search of English-language print media for items citing Jobs' Tues. presentation showed he got more attention that day than CES. Total references to CES, not restricted to Tues., did beat those to Macworld at least 2-1, depending on the breadth of the base searched. But total references to Jobs, Apple and Apple TV substantially outnumbered those to Gates, Microsoft and Windows Home Server, announced by Gates in his CES keynote as a competitor to Apple TV. In his keynote, Jobs jabbed at Microsoft and other rivals, but selectively. He said Microsoft's Zune should have had a strong Nov., its launch month, then quoted NPD figures showing the company had only a 2% U.S. share in digital media players, to Apple's 62%. Jobs said Apple boosted its share in Dec., for which NPD data weren't yet available. "No matter how you spin this, what can you say?" Jobs said as, on the Moscone Center's giant screens, the word "Zune," burst into animated flames. But Jobs didn't take on the Windows Home Server.
Macworld Expo "caters to the Mac faithful," luring them by the thousands, professionals and consumers, Bajarin said. The show is "a very powerful environment to showcase products to consumers," he said: "CES is still a B2B show... Apple has never had B2B as their focus. It's always been Apple directly to the consumer." Jobs indicated that the packed house for his keynote numbered about 4,000. The event has been held in San Francisco since 1985, and Jobs has been its centerpiece since 1998. His first Macworld keynote after a long exile from Apple was at a counterpart conference in Boston in 1997.
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News » iPhone Market » CEA Not Holding Its Breath About Apple Coming Back to CES
<- previous page
[15.01.2007]
CEA Not Holding Its Breath About Apple Coming Back to CES
CEA has been trying to coax Apple to return to CES but isn't counting on success, said Karen Chupka, CEA senior vp- events & conferences. She spoke as one of the week's biggest CE splashes came, not out of CES in Las Vegas, but in Apple CEO Steve Jobs' Macworld Expo keynote in San Francisco.
CEA overtures to member Apple about CES have included offers of a featured keynote slot for Jobs, most recently about 2 years ago, Chupka said: "We'll definitely offer Jobs a keynote at times... We would continue to invite them down the road." Apple management has said it would like to participate in CES but can't handle so great a commitment so close to the one it has to Macworld, she said. The shows are both in early Jan.; this year, as sometimes happens, they coincided. Organizers don't plan to change dates to prevent conflicts, they said. "It isn't the first time it's happened, and I'd probably be remiss to say that it won't happen" again, said Charlotte McCormack, PR mgr. for Macworld Expo parent IDG World Expo. But Apple doesn't need CES, Bajarin said, and IDG's McCormack agreed. Chupka said CES offers managements like Apple's an unparalleled chance to parley with executives from companies, including the top ones, across the spectrum of converging technology industries -- media companies, communications service providers and software makers as well as hardware and retail companies -- and to grab Wall Street's attention. But Jobs -- who's also Disney's largest individual shareholder -- has no trouble getting anyone he wants on the phone, Bajarin said. And even that's unnecessary when major companies flock to Apple's doorstep. When, with the iPod, Apple decided to broaden its sales channels a few years ago, "the Best Buys and Circuit Citys came to them," Bajarin said: "Apple never needed to go them." By the same token, even with Apple's rise in consumer technology, "CES will be just fine" without it, Bajarin said: "I can't see either of them saying they'll suffer without each other."
Apple's return to CES would end a long hiatus, not mark a reversal of course. In 1992, Apple introduced the visionary but ill-fated Newton PDA in Chicago at the midyear CES, an event discontinued soon after. Apple went to CES into the mid-1990s, Bajarin said. Apple didn't provide us a representative to interview. A spokeswoman said the company is swamped with media inquiries.
Invitations aimed at getting Apple back to CES aren't affected by the show's longstanding featured solo for arch- rival Bill Gates, usually the night before CES's main business starts, Chupka said. Gates, "an icon in the industry," has keynoted every year since 1997 and did so in 1995, she said. Despite his announced pullback from day-to- day involvement in Microsoft, Gates is set for a 2008 CES keynote. "We will take it from there," Chupka said. Gates makes for an irresistible keynoter because he's an international attention magnet, she said. And CEA likes to spotlight Microsoft and Intel, Chupka said, noting that they develop technology platforms, do co-branding and share the stage with CEA member partners. No company has a lock on a CES keynote, and Microsoft has no say about wooing Apple back, she said. Apple is known for liking more control over product development and branding. "They're already in control of their B2B relationship, and I can't see them changing strategies at this time, when everything they're doing now is working so well," Bajarin said.
This year, Jobs held much of the media limelight. "He dramatically upstaged CES, at least" Tues., Bajarin said. IDG's McCormack said some journalists told her Jobs' star turn had been the talk of the CES newsroom, prompting them to leave Las Vegas to cover the CEO's Macworld keynote. Chupka was too busy with her show to know how the publicity played out, she said: "I don't even know what goes on at Macworld." She didn't have a feel for how many reporters left CES for San Francisco, she said: "It did seem like we had a very, very strong press presence."
A Fri. search of English-language print media for items citing Jobs' Tues. presentation showed he got more attention that day than CES. Total references to CES, not restricted to Tues., did beat those to Macworld at least 2-1, depending on the breadth of the base searched. But total references to Jobs, Apple and Apple TV substantially outnumbered those to Gates, Microsoft and Windows Home Server, announced by Gates in his CES keynote as a competitor to Apple TV. In his keynote, Jobs jabbed at Microsoft and other rivals, but selectively. He said Microsoft's Zune should have had a strong Nov., its launch month, then quoted NPD figures showing the company had only a 2% U.S. share in digital media players, to Apple's 62%. Jobs said Apple boosted its share in Dec., for which NPD data weren't yet available. "No matter how you spin this, what can you say?" Jobs said as, on the Moscone Center's giant screens, the word "Zune," burst into animated flames. But Jobs didn't take on the Windows Home Server.
Macworld Expo "caters to the Mac faithful," luring them by the thousands, professionals and consumers, Bajarin said. The show is "a very powerful environment to showcase products to consumers," he said: "CES is still a B2B show... Apple has never had B2B as their focus. It's always been Apple directly to the consumer." Jobs indicated that the packed house for his keynote numbered about 4,000. The event has been held in San Francisco since 1985, and Jobs has been its centerpiece since 1998. His first Macworld keynote after a long exile from Apple was at a counterpart conference in Boston in 1997.
Words: 988 | Paragraphs: 10
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