Microsoft’s swansong as CES keynote will be nothing special

Earlier today, Microsoft announced that it was no longer going to have a booth nor deliver the keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show better known as CES after 2012.  Instead Microsoft will still attend but won’t have the same role or presence that they have had for almost 20 years.  During its last big show Microsoft will focus on the Xbox and Windows Phone.

In Microsoft’s official announcement, Frank X. Shaw,Corporate Vice President, Corporate Communications, Microsoft said that the timing of Microsoft announcements and CES no longer coincided.

…We have decided that this coming January will be our last keynote presentation and booth at CES. We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.

Shaw said that the company would still send attendees but would no longer have the major presence they have had in the past. 

That said, there has been speculation about Microsoft’s last keynote address.  What exactly will Ballmer talk about?  Will there be any really big announcements? Will there be a Blue Screen of Death?

Electronista stated back in July that its “unofficial sources” said that the keynote will include “the first and possibly only test version of Windows 8 available to the general public”. The latest news on Windows 8 puts that out of the question since it is expected to not be ready for beta testing until February.

According to Engadget, Ballmer’s address will be rather blah with an emphasis on Xbox and Windows Phone.  While both the Xbox 360 Kinect and Windows Phone 7 have had some pretty exciting announcements lately, by January it will be old news.

So Microsoft is leaving CES with more of a whimper than a bang. For a swansong exit, it’s pretty lousy.  After all, after almost 20 years, you would think that Microsoft would choose to go out in style rather than simply rehashing old news. Of course, there were some memorable performances from years past, like 2005 when Bill Gates presentation resulted in the Blue Screen of Death.  OK maybe simply getting out without too much embarrassment maybe a worthy goal after all.

Above photograph of Steve Ballmer at BUILD from Microsoft.

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