Thousands of global names to visit Las Vegas for 2012 International CES


The world’s biggest technology trade show will kick off in Las Vegas on Tuesday for four days, featuring thousands of global names in the industry, including Korean IT powerhouses Samsung and LG Electronics.

The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, will begin its journey with keynote speeches made by Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer, Qualcomm’s chairman Paul Jacobs and Paul Otellini, president and chief executive of Intel Corp.

The CES is an annual trade show held by the Consumer Electronics Association, a trade organization that works to promote growth in the $190 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry.

This year’s CES will not only be dominated by smart 3-D televisions ― as in the last several electronics trade shows ― but will also introduce a fresh lineup of OLED TVs among other products.

Samsung Electronics, which will hold its global press conference on Monday, is expected to release its TV roadmap during the tradeshow.

The company is also expected to showcase its new 55-inch OLED TV at the show. Samsung says it is thinner, lighter, brighter and more efficient.

If introduced, the 55-inch display is to be the largest OLED TV on the market, ousting a 40-inch model by the same firm from the top spot.

Samsung also said it would present three premium monitors that won the 2012 CES Innovation Award at the show in Las Vegas.

The 27-inch Series 9 LCD monitor has applied the company’s proprietary natural color expert technology for its picture quality. 

The Series 7 smart station focused on easy connection with other IT devices, equipped with the mobile control function, and the Series 7 High Definition TV monitor emphasized the multimedia feature, according to Samsung officials.

Its rival LG Electronics is planning to unveil its new Google TV for the first time at its global press conference on Monday, with plans to launch the product in the U.S. market within the first half of this year.

The world’s second-biggest flat-screen TV maker will also unveil its 55-inch 3-D OLED TV and the 84-inch 3-D Ultra Definition TV, which has four times higher resolution than the full HD TV, said LG officials.

In addition, LG will introduce the first smart TV that runs on its proprietary TV platform called NetCast at this year’s CES.

This comes as LG plans to strengthen its lineup of NetCast-based smart TVs this year by equipping 60 percent of its flat-screen TVs with its own TV platform.

This year’s CES will also be attended by many of the country’s IT gurus, which include Samsung’s Lee Kun-hee and his heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, LG Electronics’ vice chairman Koo Bon-joon, Hynix’s chief executive Kwon Oh-chul and LG Display’s new chief Han Sang-beom.

Among the heads of Korea’s IT powerhouses, Han will hold his first conference with the Korean press in Las Vegas on Monday. Samsung Electronics’ vice chairman Choi Gee-sung and Kwon Hee-won, president of LG Electronics’ home entertainment business, will also hold press conferences on the sidelines of the 2012 CES.

By Cho Ji-hyun(sharon@heraldcorp.com)