January 2022 is supposed to mark the first clip in two years theConsumer Electronics Showwould welcome in - individual attendees back to tech ’s flagship event , but like so many thing , the quickly spread out omicron covid variant is peril to upend those plans . Major attender have begin throw out will and correct , but the event ’s personal organizer say they plan to press on still .
In astatementsent to Axios , the Consumer Technology Association , the formation that play CES , say it has no plan of defer the consequence or moving to practical programming .
“ CES will still take place Jan. 5 - 8 in Las Vegas with strong prophylactic measures in property , ” the CTA sound out . The administration added that it has get 1000 of new event registration in just the last week .
Image: Robyn Beck (Getty Images)
Those safety measures let in providing two speedy mental test to every attendee in addition to ask all attendant to be fully inoculate and masked at all timesaccording toAdWeek . The organiser have also reportedly widened aisle and enhance the venue ’s ventilation scheme . Oddly , attendees will also wear a sticker that usher whether or not they are comfortable with a handshake . And despite concerns lift from some attender , CTA ’s fourth-year Vice president of Marketing and Communications Jean Foster take the entire number of exhibitors topped 2,100 on Monday .
“ At this gunpoint , we ’re very much focused on having this show and doing it safely and putting the right protocol in place to check that people feel prosperous with it , ” Foster told AdWeek . The CTA firstannouncedits design to return in person back in April .
At the same time though , some of the brass ’s biggest name have already accede out . So far , T - Mobile , Amazon , Meta , Twitter , Pinterest , iHeartRadio , and others have all announced they wo n’t wait on the issue in mortal .
In itsstatement , CES staple fiber T - Mobile sound out that while it is confident case arranger are taking precautionary steps it would nonetheless “ importantly limit ” its in - mortal presence in an drive to prioritise the safety of its squad and others in attendance . Its deviation means CEO Mike Sievert will also no longer offer his planned keynote speech .
I ’m sorry we ’ll leave out seeing everyone at CES this year , but we are prioritizing the safety of our team and other attendant .
Our assertion here : https://t.co / WAIkFYMzc7
— Mike Sievert ( @MikeSievert)December 22 , 2021
Meta and Twitter both providedstatementsto Bloomberg explaining their rationale for canceling in - person attendance . ( Meta enunciate it is still exploring ways it could potentially take part virtually . You know , because that ’s their whole thing now ) . Amazon and its underling Ring also made the decision to pull its in - mortal presence due to “ uncertainty around the Omicron variant , ” the companionship told Bloomberg . Several system like Nvidia meanwhile had reportedly planned to attend to the consequence virtually before the variant take off rise its frightful head .
Other large names like Samsung , Google , and Sony are still slated to attend the event but told Bloomberg they are currently “ monitoring ” the site . So far : Qualcomm , OnePlus , and HTC all seem poised to assist the effect in soul . LG , commonly a major musician at the event , toldThe Verge it ’s still planning on attending the effect but said it is making use of QR codes and AR in place of a traditional booth .
Media system are also rapidly pull out out of the consequence . So farCNET , Engadget , TechCrunch , The Verge , Tom ’s Guide , andTechRadarhave also announced they wo n’t attend the event in person .
Gizmodo will also be cover the show remotely .
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