Cadence of CES 2022 Withdrawals Slows With Christmas Hiatus
Christmas week hiatus for many companies appears to have slowed the cadence of CES 2022 withdrawals from in-person participation at the Jan. 5-8 event in Las Vegas amid the sharp spike nationally in COVID-19 cases from the omicron variant. CES 2022 lost at least its second featured in-person keynoter when General Motors confirmed Thursday that CEO Mary Barra would still appear in her Jan. 5 time slot at 9 a.m. on the show’s opening morning, but only digitally. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert withdrew as a keynoter earlier in the week, saying he wouldn't speak even virtually, and would keep the “vast majority” of the T-Mobile team at home.
CTA made no new statements since announcing Wednesday that CES 2022 would “go forward” as an in-person show, with “digital access” also available “for people that don't wish to, or can't travel to Las Vegas.” The show’s “comprehensive health measures,” including its vaccine mandate, indoor masking requirement and distribution of free onsite COVID-19 rapid tests, made CTA “confident that attendees and exhibitors can have a socially distanced but worthwhile and productive event in Las Vegas,” said the association.
But companies pivoting a day later to online-only CES 2022 engagement hinted strongly that they weren’t buying CTA's messaging about the low risks of in-person attendance. “The health and safety of Intel employees, partners and customers is always a top priority,” said the chipmaker Thursday, typifying other companies scrapping or curtailing their Las Vegas travel plans. “After consulting with health officials and in the spirit of Intel’s safety policy, Intel’s plans for CES will move to a digital-first live experience, with minimal on-site staff.”
Exhibitors reverting to digital-only CES 2022 participation appear by and large to be leaving their physical booth plans intact for the show floor, raising implications about the CES experience from the minimal staffing many companies plan to leave behind. Time will tell if the phenomenon of skeleton staffing at CES 2022 will extend to other companies. Intel's Mobileye was one exception to the rule of keeping its show floor plans unchanged amid the withdrawal of in-person staff. "To ensure a safe #CES2022, we've decided to forgo our booth & bring you all our content exclusively online," tweeted the autonomous driving subsidiary Monday afternoon.
Among legacy brands and companies occupying the Las Vegas Convention Center’s core Central Hall, Samsung Electronics CEO Jong-Hee Han doubled down last week to say he's forging ahead with his evening keynote Jan. 4 at the Venetian's Palazzo Ballroom (see 2112220003). But little else is known about Samsung’s executive participation at CES, and we were unable Monday to reach Samsung personnel who were away for the holiday.
Sony, another legacy Central Hall exhibitor, was unresponsive to at least two rounds of our questions in the past week about whether CEO Kenichiro Yoshida will fly in for the show from Tokyo, as he customarily does, to host Sony’s news conference at the end of media day. CES 2022 is the first for Neal Manowitz since taking over for Mike Fasulo as Sony Electronics president-chief operating officer in San Diego, but Sony also was unresponsive to our queries about Manowitz’s Las Vegas plans.
Rumors are “credible” that Sony will introduce hybrid quantum dot OLED TVs using panels designed and produced by Samsung Display, emailed Display Supply Chain Consultants President Bob O’Brien. “We definitely expect that Sony will introduce a QD OLED TV in 2022, so showing it at CES does make sense,” he said. O’Brien plans to attend CES 2022 in person for two days, he told us: “I have a plane ticket purchased and a hotel reservation with a cancellation deadline of 12/30. I am going to query my contacts to confirm they will still attend; I have eight meetings still arranged, but I have had one cancellation.”