For every party worth its salt, there’s some pre-partying going on (refer back to photos from college dorm room festivities for a refresher on this idea). It’s completely understandable – folks are excited about everyone getting together to have a good time and connecting with new and old friends.
CES 2012 pre-event activities kicked off Monday, a full day before the show doors opened, and Airfoil’s clients did their part to get the party started:
- Microsoft: With Microsoft recently announcing that CES 2012 would be its last for the foreseeable future, all eyes were on Monday’s corporate keynote...and Microsoft didn’t disappoint. Steve Ballmer made a surprise appearance to recap the strong year Microsoft had in 2011 and discuss the company’s core consumer-facing products moving into 2012, including Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox and more. But wait…super-secret, double surprise! American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest took the stage to interview Steve, host guests onstage – including, yes, a tweet choir – facilitate demos, and provide commentary and perspective throughout the speech.
- NVIDIA press conference: CEO Jen Hsun Huang spoke to a crowd of more than 500, comparing tablets to the car industry: just because the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all time doesn’t mean everyone wants one. He talked about the fact that a new breed of innovations that accommodate diverse platforms – from Android tablets that meet a variety of needs through a variety of shapes and sizes to Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS that spans both smart phones and tablets – are the new standard.
- Parrot's Asteroid launch: Parrot unveiled three connected solutions for cars based upon its ASTEROID platform: the ASTEROID CK (telephony+music+Internet), the Parrot ASTEROID NAV (telephony+music+Internet+navigation) and the Parrot ASTEROID 2DIN (telephony+music+ tuner+Internet+navigation). These are the first Android based in-car products from Parrot that have Internet connectivity.
The CES shindig officially began today, but we think the buzz created by our clients during yesterday’s “pre-party” set a vibrant tone for the phenomenal event it’s proving to be. All that fun…and the cops didn’t even get called.
