Apple’s move to CES from Macworld Expo “is a done deal,” AppleInsider reported Monday, confirming last week’s Cult of Mac story breaking the news.
AI cited unnamed “sources close to” Apple.
The move is designed to provide a greater contrast between Apple and its rivals, including Microsoft and Palm. Leaving Macworld also marks Apple’s departure as only a computer company and positioning itself as a larger consumer electronics player involved in cell phones, gaming and software.
While Apple’s Mac OS has always been compared against Microsoft, attending the same tradeshow as the software giant would draw a sharper contrast, according to the Apple-oriented blog.
Although Apple’s involvement would allow the Cupertino, Calif.-based company to go head-to-head with Microsoft, CES would reduce some of the pressure Apple felt to unveil immediately-available headline-making products. By contrast, Microsoft has used the annual tradeshow to introduce products that often are not available for months.
The Consumer Electronics Show over the weekend confirmed its next year’s show would include a section devoted to “Apple-related” products. CES executive Jason Oxman confirmed the new Apple focus to CNET. The report follows talk CES was discussing such a move with Macworld Expo vendors.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
