CES is set to take place in Las Vegas right after the holidays, from Jan. 6-9. Being the huge show that it is, however, it's impossible to know everything there is to know about CES.
Here are a few things that you might not know about the International Consumer Electronics Show.
Perhaps testifying to the size of the show, it would take a whopping 393 basketball courts to cover CES' 1.85 million square feet of floor space. Even just the show floor is huge. An Olympic swimmer would have to swim a very tiring 483 laps in the pool to cover the 15 miles of show floor.
CES isn't just big when it comes to physical size. A massive number of products are launched at the show every year, totaling over 20,000 products. While that certainly is a large number, consider that the U.S. consumer electronics industry is worth an all-time high of $211.3 billion. This is up 2 percent from the $207 billion that it was worth in 2013. This is over 5,000 times more than largest jackpot ever won in Las Vegas, which was $39.7 million.
CES wasn't always this big, however. The first CES was held in 1967, with attendance of only around 17,500 people. In 2013, CES had an attendance of over 150,000. A massive 5,000 of those people are part of the media. To put that into perspective, that's more than double the amount of media that attend the Super Bowl.
As mentioned before, CES has been running since 1967, and some pretty huge products have been announced at the event. The VCR was first released at the show in 1970, the iconic NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1985, the game Tetris in 1988 and satellite radio in 2000. The next year, in 2001, the first Xbox was released at the show.
CES hasn't been all good all the time, though. In recent years, starting in 2012, the show has been the center of controversy surrounding the presence of "booth babes," or scantily clad models. CES organizers, however, have released statements saying it would be impractical to enforce a dress code, and that it would distract organizers and staff from providing security.
Despite the controversy in recent times, booth babes have reportedly been a part of the show since it first started in 1967, although at that time they were simply called "CES Guides." Not only that, but the lack of clothing for these "CES Guides" became the standard at the show during the 1970s.
Whether the next big product is released or more controversy created, CES 2015 is sure to be a huge event. We already know it is set to have a big focus on home automation and wearable devices, but only time will tell what else we see at the event.
