LAS VEGAS — A decade after the dot-com crash, high-tech is soaring once again as consumers and investors alike are displaying insatiable appetite for Internet-based companies, content and gadgets.
Here at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show — a bellwether for the industry — its best attendance in years is possible.
On Wall Street, investors are jockeying for stakes in social-networking standouts Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn, an online business-networking site, and Zynga, a social-gaming firm, are reportedly planning to go public this year.
At home, in the car and everywhere else, consumers young and old are turning to their smartphones and tablets for the next tweet, Facebook update or Netflix video stream, pushing wireless carriers to spend billions to upgrade their networks and technology manufacturers to release an endless stream of gadgets, including a laptop docking station for a smartphone.
“It’s about being able to take entertainment anywhere with you” said Jeff Sanders, director of technology for AtHomeFirst in Georgia, who is attending his first Consumer Electronics Show. “I can pull an iPad out of my backpack, and I can watch Netflix, I can read Kindle books, I can watch YouTube videos and I can check my e-mail. It’s kind of an always-on, always-in-my-hand entertainment device.”
By year-end, half of all cellphone users will own a smartphone, said Mel Coker, an AT&T vice president, during a panel discussion Friday.
But the device that is the clear star of this year’s show is the tablet computer. PC Magazine columnist Tim Bajarin says the device “transcends generations,” citing an example in which he saw a 2-year-old learn how to use a tablet not long after picking it up.
On the other end of the spectrum, 63-year- old Larry Lucht said tablets are the biggest draw for him this year. He planned to upgrade his Android-based tablet but was disappointed that many of the devices unveiled at the show weren’t ready for commercial release.
“It seems like most of the companies won’t be introducing final versions until early or midsummer,” Lucht said.
An attorney from Minnesota, Lucht has attended the CES for five straight years with his wife. “We’re the world’s oldest tech geeks,” he said.
Prior to the four-day trade show, which runs through Sunday, producers estimated that the event would be at last year’s attendance of 126,000. The record is 154,000 in 2006. An update on this year’s figures wasn’t available Friday.
Dixie Ziegler, vice president of Nebraska-based Hamilton Relay, said the event is clearly drawing a broad audience. The company is showcasing a phone that provides real-time captions of conversations, a service geared toward those with hearing loss.
Ziegler said many of the visitors testing the company’s technology, marketed under the Hamilton CapTel brand, were among the older generation that would use the service.
While the myriad consumer electronics may help drive sales, the constant updates and new releases have left some confused or weary.
“I’m reluctant to buy an iPhone because there’s a new version of it every year,” said Ranee Cheung, a college student from Boston attending her first CES.
Like clockwork, Apple and Verizon Wireless will reportedly announce Tuesday the long-rumored iPhone that will work with Verizon’s network. To date, the smartphone juggernaut has been tied exclusively to AT&T.
Andy Vuong: avuong@denverpost.com, 303-954-1209, or
