Utah Tech Watch

It’s now nearly three weeks after the closing of the 2009 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show, and my senses have almost completely recovered from being overloaded by the barrage of sights, sounds and smells that accompany any trip to Las Vegas, let alone one to attend the largest technology trade show on earth.

Now that I’m back in the friendly confines and familiar surroundings of home and office along the Wasatch Front, it’s time to analyze where this CES09 fits in the overall scheme of things.

Going into CES09, show organizers predicted a nine percent drop in attendance to 130,000 from the 2008 show where more than 141,000 individuals were in attendance. Such a prediction was not surprising given the overall malaise afflicting the economy here in the United States and abroad.

After Day One of CES (rosy predictions from the Consumer Electronics Association notwithstanding), it was clear to this veteran of the tech trade show circuit that CES09 attendance was going to come nowhere near the predicted 130,000.

As I walked through both the Las Vegas and Sands Convention Centers, I found open islands of space where booths would have been housed at past shows, and the crowds (though dense at times) were never overwhelming or super-dense. Cab lines outside the convention halls were often non-existent. The same could also be said of both the restrooms and the food stands at both halls.

In other words, by Sunday, January 11, it was clear that predicted attendance figures were going to clearly miss the mark.

And in fact, when the CEA did release its preliminary estimates for CES09 attendance a week-ago Sunday, they pegged this year’s numbers at closer to 110,000 attendees. If borne out following the annual audit, this would mean a more than 22 percent drop in attendance on a year-over-year basis.

Surprising? Not really, given what I saw on the show floor.

Interestingly, some news reports suggest that CES may look to limit the maximum number of people at future shows to somewhere near the 100,000-person mark – the thinking being that this figure may be closer to the optimal amount of attendees for a major trade show, particularly if those in attendance are the right people. (Not that this suggestion doesn’t open a whole ‘nother can of worms of selecting the “right people,” but that’s an issue to consider for a different day and another column.)Regardless, I’m not convinced that the CES attendance drop off foretells gloom and doom, as what may be true for the economy as a whole may not be true for portions of the economy, whether such segments be geographic or industry-specific in nature.

Which begs the questions: How did Utah companies do at CES09? And how does 2009 look for Utah-based companies focused on the consumer electronics marketplace?

As I reported on UtahTechWatch.com on 1/1/09, 31 Utah-based companies were listed by CEA as formal exhibitors this January 8-11 at CES09, roughly the same number of companies from the state that exhibited at CES08.

Of these firms, perhaps no other company in Utah has created the recent impact in the consumer electronics (CE) space as generated by Draper-based Control4.

As it has for the past several years, Control4’s two-story booth held forth in its prominent position near the front of the South Hall in the LVCC at CES09, and even on the last day of the show, Control4 was still quite full of interested attendees.

According to Glen Mella, company president and COO, this nearly 200-person company has become the preeminent firm in the world in the residential controls marketplace, with more than 80,000 of its entertainment, lighting and temperature controllers now in homes worldwide.

Make no mistake about it: Control4 is definitely an international organization, with resellers in 24 countries (including the U.S. and Canada) and more than 1,400 dealers in North America alone.

In addition, Control4 also doubled the size of its partner pavilion across the aisle in the LVCC South Hall to 3,000-square feet and 24 total partners, including companies such as Black & Decker, LG and Panasonic.

And Control4 plans to boost its presence at CES 2010.

So how did Control4 do in 2008 in the midst of this global economic turmoil? Quite well, thank you, with total revenue up 40 percent in 2008 to more than $55 million.

Another company attracting a crowd at this year’s CES – as it always has at industry events – was Park City-based Skull Candy.

This year Skull Candy opted for a fun race track ambiance to its 2,500-square foot, lime green and black highlighted booth, with a six-car slot-car track set up at the front of the booth for ad hoc races between CES09 attendees.

With urban and rock music pumping in the background, Skull Candy created a fun vibe for show visitors as jump-suited booth babes easily invited wave after wave of would-be drivers to try their luck on the slot-car track.

Skull Candy used CES09 and its stock car motif to launch its new 2XL brand of headphones and ear buds, a product line targeted squarely at middle America instead of its Core line which targets the edgy, hip urban crowd.

Priced at $9.99 to $39.99, the 2XL products will be available later this year in mass market retailers such as Best Buy and Target.

According to company spokeswoman Jessica Gross, Skull Candy’s booth was not only the largest it’s ever had at CES, but CES09 was also a great show for the company.

“We had very good meetings (at CES09) with both buyers and potential buyers,” Gross said. “And 2XL was very well received, both by the media and attendees.”

CES09 marked only the second time Orem-based Isis Dei had exhibited at the Consumer Electronics Show.

But the maker of urban-styled protective carrying cases and messenger bags for notebook and netbook computers was so successful at CES08 that it returned in an even bigger way in 2009.

This year, Isis Dei recruited dancer Robert (“Mr. Fantastic”) Muraine of So You Think You Can Dance TV show fame to attract attendees to the booth by performing his world-famous “popper” dance routines at the show. And every time the music started banging and Robert started popping, a starstruck gathering formed quickly, clogging the aisles and overflowing into nearby booths.

“We’re now in virtually all college bookstores,” said Taylor Shupe, Isis Dei CEO and founder, “And it’s all because of coming to CES last year. And this year the attention’s been even higher for us.”

This January, Logan-based iFrogz doubled its space to a 20- X 20-foot booth at CES09 versus the previous year and moved from the Sands over to the LVCC.

Although known primarily for its cases and silicone-based protective wraps for iPods, iPhones and other multimedia players, iFrogz showcased its new EarPollution line of headphones and ear buds at CES09 – a product line focused on mass market retailers.

According to iFrogz’ President Scott Huskinson, the company’s expanded presence and EarPollution product line were well received at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, and the company is excited about its products for 2009 and beyond.

Interestingly, of all the Utah-based companies I spoke with and/or visited at CES09, only one expressed any reservations about its success at CES this year. But even this firm said it would be back for CES10, only next year it plans to participate in CES as a partner within a distributor’s booth rather than have its own standalone booth.

Am I suggesting that each Utah-based consumer electronics company will have a banner year in 2009? Of course not.

But my personal experience at CES09 also suggests that 2009 may not be the economic wasteland some experts are predicting either.

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DISCLOSURES: iFrogz is a previous client of Politis Communications. This blog post was originally published by The Enterprise (in Salt Lake City) on January 19, 2009.

Filed under: High-Tech News, Industry News