Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1335241
80 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2021 Vegas, added the attendees and exhibitors that had been obtained by COMDEX, and became the signature event to showcase all electronic industry products from TVs to computers, drones to 3D printers, and complete ready-to- use devices to components. If you wanted to compare ready-to-use advanced computers or if you wanted to compare computer mother- boards and power supplies, etc., you'd attend CES to learn what was announced during the show. Looking at the Future Why then, do I predict a decline and poten- tial failure if CES permanently transitions to an all-virtual format? It's all about economics, plain and simple. Any company that exhibits at CES must pay to do so and cover the costs of exhibit space transportation, set up, and com- Feature by Dan Feinberg I-CONNECT007 I wrote this on the final day of CES 2021, and I expect CES will never be the same. It will not revert back to what it once was. I also cannot imagine it stays a totally virtual show; in doing so, I feel it would fail. Does that mean I think the 2021 show was a failure? No, not at all. In fact, it was a very good event, particularly in light of the medical and political pandemic that we have been enduring. A Little History e first CES took place in June 1967 in New York City as a spinoff from the Chicago Music Show, which, until 1966, was also the most pop- ular event for exhibiting consumer electronics. Over the years, the show grew, moved to Las A Virtual Show Floor