What was it like the first of THESE, in 1967 ? – The Echoes

screens mounted on large rectangular blocks covered in buttons. What to put on the eyes of the Americans. Only a few years after the commercialization of the first color tv, Packard Bell and Motorola are proud to lift the veil, at the same time, on their latest models. This appointment, which does not take place in Las Vegas, as one might think but in New York, in 1967, is a first.

This year, between 24 and 28 June, in addition to these two manufacturers, a hundred of exhibitors stand ready to perform demonstrations in the grounds of hotels Americana (now the Sheraton) and Hilton, two steps from Times Square, with the hope to launch their innovations. They are gathered in the framework of a unique event : the Consumer Electronic Show.

The Beatles band original

logos now familiar cover in the alleys created for the occasion, indicating the presence of Panasonic, Philips, Toshiba, Sharp or Sony. Beyond televisions, the event is also great for recorders and transistors of where to escape to from time to time the chords rock the last hit of the Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, to the delight of visitors.

Greeted by hostesses carry huge macaroons “staff”, the men and women who came to discover these new technologies have all or almost a foot in the electronics industry. For this first edition, which opens officially on Monday morning with a speech by the chairman of Motorola, Robert Galvin, THIS was deliberately not admitted to the public. Manufacturers can then devote 100% of their time to potential buyers without being interrupted by fans full of curiosity. The first workshops and seminars to industry are organised for and by the manufacturers and sellers of electronic products.

A visionary at the helm

It is a certain Jack Wayman , a sales specialist, visionary, and showman, who had the idea of organising this great raout four years after having founded the Electronic Industries Association in 1963 (transformed into a Consumer Technology Association ). This former home of RCA, a company specializing in electronic products, perceives in the american consumers with a growing appetite for this type of devices. “We are heading towards a television screen the size of a wall”, he, for example, predicted in the Washington Post in 1982.

There is no trade fair dedicated to consumer electronics in the United States up to the time when Jack Wayman cut the inaugural ribbon of the THESE. Manufacturers were previously present their products on the occasion of the Chicago Music Show, an event that will bring together the professionals of the music industry, sponsored by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM). Technological innovation is worthy of his own appointment, believed Jack Wayman.

17,000 people to start

To mark the spirits, the first edition of the Consumer Electronic Show takes place at the same time as the Chicago Music Show. Forcing the exhibitors to make a difficult choice : should he send representatives to the two events ? Priority to this new salon specialized ? Finally, the big american companies and most of the japanese manufacturers are in full rise choose to support THESE.

To ensure attracting people in the aisles, Jack Wayman convinces the Narda National Appliance and Radio Dealers Association), an association of independent distributors of equipment, hold at the same time its annual convention the first few years. He also put on a gala evening on the eve of the launch. The THESE of 1967 brings together 17,000 people in total (a number multiplied by ten to 50 years later).

gateway for entrepreneurs tech

no one is able to predict at the time, but the appointment is growing year by year, adapting to the new trends of the market, becoming a must for companies in tech from around the world . The same question is each time : “What will be the next step for consumer electronics ?”

In 2017, 3.800 exhibitors have taken up their quarters under the lights blinding in Las Vegas, where now takes place the THESE. After you have acquired the importance, the event was split into two annual meetings between 1978 and 1994 : the first, in January, has taken his ease in the united of the casinos, and the second, in June, moved to Chicago. Since 1994, a single issue remains, in the largest city of Nevada.

Place of demonstrations laughable or fascinating, exchanges of ideas and meetings between the professionals of the sector, but also with policy makers, artists and members of the public more recently, it is where have been unveiled for the first time an impressive number of groundbreaking products : computer mouse (1968), the forerunner of the Internet (1969), the vcr (1970), the camcorder and the CD player (1981), the DVD (1996), the Blu-ray (2003) or tablet (2010).

Around 7,000 journalists have been accredited this year. The first of THESE was about 6 % of the space reserved for this 50th appointment (a 223,000 square meters).

an increasing variety Of areas

The living room, which now houses both the manufacturers and the distributors of content, software developers and car manufacturers, takes the shot in spite of the ups and downs of the market. He even knows that attendance growth, while other large gatherings devoted to the technologies are struggling to maintain their influence. This is the case of E3, specialized in video games, such as the number of visitors has slowed down compared to the mid-2000s. The Comdex, one of the most important exhibitions devoted to it in the world, was abandoned in 2003 after 24 years of existence.

THESE even made for the shade this year at the salon of Detroit dedicated to the automotive industry, which takes place this weekend, since Fiat Chrysler, Renault-Nissan, Toyota or even Ford have made announcements. Tvs, always the sharper and finer, are still part of the innovations most expected, but it is far away the time where they were in the heart of fairways and sparkling palaces.