Microsoft Lowering Its Profile at CES After 2012

Microsoft will have a keynote presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show for the last time in 2012, although it will continue to participate in the giant trade show, a company executive said in a blog post Wednesday.

Microsoft will offer a keynote speech at the upcoming CES, Jan. 10 to 13 in Las Vegas, but the company is rethinking how it announces new products, Frank Shaw, vice president for corporate communications, wrote in the blog post.

“Our industry moves fast and changes faster,” Shaw wrote. “And so the way we communicate with our customers must change in equally speedy ways.”

The company is looking for new ways to promote its products, including in-house events, Facebook and Twitter announcements, and information on Microsoft.com, Shaw wrote.

“As we look at all of the new ways we tell our consumer stories … it feels like the right time to make this transition,” he said. “We’ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won’t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don’t align with the show’s January timing.”

Microsoft has worked with CES sponsor the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) for nearly 20 years, and the company will continue to work with the trade group, Shaw said.

A CEA spokeswoman wasn’t immediately available for comment.

[For more blogs, stories, photos, and video from the nation’s largest consumer electronics show, check out PCWorld’s complete coverage of CES 2012.]

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant’s e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.