Media Money
- Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg to Harvard Grads: ‘Can You Click On an Ad or Two’
- NCTA Trends: Mobile video, Watch ESPN and TV Everywhere
- Discovery CEO David Zaslav on OWN, Global Growth & Netflix Impact
- National Cable Show: Cloud, Wifi, TV Everywhere Loom Large
- Facebook: Hacking All Night to an IPO
- Why Facebook Is Celebrating Its IPO With a Hackathon
- Inside Facebook's Money Machine
- Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook's Billion-Dollar Woman
- Diablo III Launch Breaks Records and Servers
- Privacy in Focus Ahead of Facebook IPO
RSS FEED
MOST SHARED
- JPMorgan Dips into Cookie Jar to Offset "London Whale" Losses
- European Shares Buoyed by China Stimulus Hopes
- As Irish Head to Polls, ‘No’ Voices Get Louder
- Shell Puts Alberta Oil Sands Project on the Block
- Euro Isn’t Loved, but Few Want to Drop It, Poll Says
- US Law Firm Dewey Files for Chapter 11, Seeks Liquidation
- U.S. Winds Down Longer Benefits for the Unemployed
- Glitches Halt New Goldman Trade Platform
- China Moves to Tame Microbloggers
- Funds Cut Exposure to Euro Zone Banks
- A New Look at the ‘New Poor’
- Six Pack: Beer Buzz of the Week
- Greek Exit Could Trigger 50% Fall in Euro Stocks: Analyst
- Under Pressure, FHA Skews to Wealthier Home Buyers
- Big Stock Upside for Hudson City Deal: Analyst
- 5 High-Yield Stocks Ready to Boost Dividends
- Yoshikami: Four Things You Need to Know About Gold Now
- Steinbock: The Euro Zone Endgame Begins
- Option Bulls Take Another Shot on Idenix
- JPMorgan Sells Good Assets to Offset 'London Whale'
- Euro Zone Bank Safety Net Leaves Holes Unplugged
- Glitches Halt New Goldman Trade Platform
- Greece Pours $22.6 Billion Into Its Four Biggest Banks
- Funds Cut Exposure to Euro Zone Banks
- US Markets Will Be Watching Europe—And Jobs Report
- As Irish Head to Polls, ‘No’ Voices Get Louder
- Emerging Markets to Test Lehman Lows on 'Grexit'
- Spain's Debt Costs Near Danger Level: Is Bailout Next?
CES: Apple’s Huge Role and Invisible Presence
Text Size 
CNBC Correspondent
Apple is the elephant in the convention center here at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Apple [AAPL
Loading...
()
] has zero official presence at CES but the specter of Steve Jobs shadow looms large over every single bit of activity at the annual tech convention. While the company’s execs remain in Cupertino, waiting for Jobs to make his black turtlenecked announcements on his own time, Apple’s reach and influence at CES has never been larger.
 |
Getty Images Apple iPad |
First, it is the standard-bearer: the maker of the tablet to defeat. Every new tablet to be introduced by Panasonic, Motorola [MMI
Loading...
()
] or Microsoft [MSFT
Loading...
()
], every demo of Google’s Android or Honeycomb technology on a large glossy screen faces direct (and harsh) comparison to Apple’s iPad.
When the electronics-makers at the show talk of Google’s upcoming new Honeycomb operating system, we can expect investors and show attendees to start rumbling about Apple’s second generation device, which is expected to debut in April.
The same holds true, perhaps to a slightly lesser degree, for the iPhone and Apple TV.
While Google Android-powered phones from Motorola, HTC, and Samsung celebrated blockbuster sales last year, the iPhone is still considered the aesthetic ideal.
AppleTV is slowly but surely gaining traction as a viable way to watch web video on your TV. This stands in stark contrast to GoogleTV, which is still living down the disappointment of its limited content deals. GoogleTV will not have an official presence at CES this year, which means the set top box makers and connected TV proponents will be looking at Apple (and Netflix [NFLX
Loading...
()
]) as their competition — not Google [GOOG
Loading...
()
].
 |
Second, Apple gadgets will be in nearly every corner of CES – in booths like NBC Universal’s (both NBC Universal and CNBC are owned by parent company General Electric [GE
Loading...
()
]) to demo new services and streaming video. Any tech exhibitor that doesn’t make its own tablet is likely to use Apple’s. For what? The iPad can be programmed to be a remote control for a giant new flatscreen to an interactive map for the various demos at the booth.
Plus, thousands — if not tens of thousands — of iPads are sure to be floating from booth to booth. Journalists will use them to take notes and entrepreneurs will whip them out for investors to outline business plans. These things will be littering the show floor – just wait for the roar of complaints about how bad AT&T reception is in the convention center.
 |
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
