The 2012 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show just got over in Las Vegas. CES was first held in 1967, and it certainly has changed over the years. But is it getting too big? Is it not worth the big bucks anymore that companies pay to exhibit there?

For CES in 2011, 140,000 visitors, 30,000 from outside the U.S., flocked to Vegas to take in all the latest in consumer technology and gadgets. That’s a lot of people in one place, even in a city like Las Vegas, which is basically built on tourism.

I’ve been fortunate to attend a few CES spectacles as a reporter, and I can tell you that it is backbreaking work; from early morning press-tours to late-evening parties, and interviews and press conferences in between. Sounds glamorous? It’s not, I can tell you. There’s just too much to cover and you fight desperately to try to filter things and decide what to write about.

But that’s a topic for another day. By all accounts, CES 2012 was a huge success and the usual websites, magazines etc. reported from Vegas with fever-pitch frenzy.  I saw a tweet the other day from a reporter, which said something like “we posted more than 100 stories today from CES.” That’s just crazy.

But there is that much – and more – to report on, and that’s sort of the problem. For big companies, like Intel, it’s a chance to stand out, but spending, presumably, millions of dollars on CES must be giving them reason to pause and think whether it’s worth it. For small companies, I can only see it being worth it, if they have something really spectacular to show off that every news outlet will pick up.

And then you have citizen-journalism. Being away from CES this year, I’ve picked up so much news via tweets and other social media messages from individuals at the show- regular visitors and not professional reporters. That, I think, will have a more profound change on these shows more than anything.

Although CES is a spectacular show I believe the future is in smaller, more frequent and directed events. Apple has realized that- one reason why they dumped MacWorld Expo in 2009, and Microsoft has as well, making this CES its last. Now we’re just waiting for the rest to catch up.

And that also goes for GITEX in Dubai, although that’s a different beast altogether as it relies much more on enterprise tech and CES is obviously focused on consumers. However, I would suspect we could ask many of the same questions about GITEX as we do about CES. One thing I have to say to the GITEX organizers is that you have to catch up with the times and realize that social media can make or break you.

Photo by VentureBeat.

GITEX 2011 starts next week, well the Consumer Shopper expo begins this Saturday, 8th October onwards, but today I’ll be focusing on the Technology Week, which goes on from Sunday, 9th October to Thursday, 13th October. The Technology Week exhibition will be held, as always, at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, right next to DWTC. The Technology Week exhibition is only open for trade and business, with the regular public being catered to at the GITEX Shopper at the Dubai Airport Expo.

The opening hours for Technology Week as as follows:

- 9 October: 1pm – 7pm
- 10 to 12 October: 11am – 7pm
- 13 October: 11am – 5pm

Tickets for the Technology Week are a bit pricier than the Shopper Expo, going for AED 70 for a daily ticket or AED 130 for a 5 day ticket.

During the Technology Week we’re expecting to see the launch of many new products in the region. While most of them will be unveiled on the first day itself, some may be launching with planned events in the next day. For now though, these are the products we have confirmed launches of:

1. Nokia – Regional Launch of N9
2. Microsoft – Office 365 & System Centre 2012 & Azure
3. ICANN – gLTD
4. Symantec – Endpoint Protection 12 (Cloud Security)
5. Ministry of Foreign Affairs – iphone & ipad apps for services
6. Dubai eGov – mobile apps for services
7. Ministry of Public Works – Launch of new public interaction services on web
8. Cyberoam – NetGenie – sms network security system
9. Forefront – Blu-Ray archieve library solutions
10. Panasonic – Solar Powered IP CCTV
11. Laserfische – Lasherfische Mobile content management system
12. Kodak – i5800 production scanner, IBML Image Trac 5 scanner, Capture Pro (Arabic Interface)
13. BlueCoat – WAN optimisation solutions, Cloud based web security
14. MSI – GT80 gaming laptop
15. RIM (Blackberry) – Bold 9900
16. Monster – Turbine Pro In-Ear Speakers
17. Touchmate – Tablet PC, 3 Sim Mobile Phone
18. Intex – Mobile Phone for visually impared
19. Ford – 2012 Explorer, Inflatable 2nd row seatbelt technology

And now, let’s move onto the events.

The video below maybe a bit on the longer side, but it’s well worth it if you want to see some of MSI’s latest notebooks and all-in-one PCs coming to market within the next few weeks.Also, a quick look at MSI’s Windpad and what flavour of Windows 7 or Android it maybe appearing in.

Here’s a quick break down:

0:00 – 5:35 : Gaming laptops

5:56 – 7:50 : F Series entertainment laptops

7:51 – 10:30 : 3D laptops and PC

10:31 – 12:23 : MSI Windpad

12:24 – 14:29 : All-in-one PCs

Gigabyte Interview from Tbreak on Vimeo.