CES 2010: Smaller, more exclusive

CES 2010 won't happen until January of next year, but organizers are already warning attendees and exhibitors that its prior reputation as a high-tech circus is all but over.

Specifically, the Consumer Electronics Association, which puts on the CES show every year, is estimating that everything will be smaller with 2010's installment of the show. Attendance is estimated at just 100,000 visitors, lower than the 141,000 who came in 2008 and 110,000 in recession-muted 2009. And the show floor will be dramatically smaller, with just 2,000 exhibitors vs. the 2,700 who had booths last year. The talk of 2009 was all about how tiny the show felt in comparison to prior years, but compared to the way 2010 is shaping up, 2009 is looking positively huge.

Much of that decline in show floor space will come at the expense of the booths at the Sands Expo, the secondary convention floor located a mile or so away from the Las Vegas Convention Center proper and which won't be used as part of CES 2010.

The Sands is infamous for being a mecca to which the strangest, quirkiest, and most unusual tech companies flock, and it's invariably filled with booths of sometimes desperate companies (often with only one representative who can speak English) looking for anyone who'll listen to their pitch. My "Weirdest and wildest gadgets of CES" posts are some of the most fun I have blogging every year, so I'll certainly miss trolling the Sands for armored wheelchairs and electronic animals.

Where will the oddball companies show off their wares next year? They'll have to pay for space in the main exhibit halls or -- more likely -- they'll simply have to stay home this time out.

Oh, and if you're a casual attendee of the show, you'll have to pay extra to get in, too: General admission is being raised from $100 to $200 per ticket bought on the premises, intentionally designed for keeping the general public out.

Other aspects of the show aren't going to change. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Intel's Paul Otellini will both be delivering keynote speeches -- again. Oh, and of course, contrary to previous rumors to this effect, Apple will not be exhibiting at the show.