For show-goers, COMDEX Fall 2003 was the smallest COMDEX in over a decade, with just 50,000 people canvassing an ever-shrinking trade show floor. But for contributing news editor Keith Furman and I, COMDEX 2003 was as busy as ever, with two straight days of back-to-back meetings following day one's Bill Gates keynote address. Here's a visual tour of our time in Las Vegas this year.
Our itinerary for Sunday included picking up VIP tickets for the Gates keynote, conveniently located in the Aladdin Hotel and Casino, where we stayed during the trip; the Bill Gates keynote address, and a press party called Digital Focus/Mobile Focus, held in a Bellagio conference room. For a business trip, day one was pretty low-key, but it would quickly get ugly.
View from my room at the Alladin.
Exterior, New York, New York.
Exterior, Bellagio.
The new Las Vegas monorail in testing (Service starts January 2004).
Exterior, Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC).
Windows-Powered SUV.
Gates keynote: Bill Gates addresses the COMDEX faithful.
Gates keynote: Bill Gates (close-up).
Gates keynote: "Do you want the Big Blue pill or the little red pill?" from Microsoft's parody of The Matrix.
Gates keynote: Gates in The Matrix parody movie.
Gates keynote: My bud Zach Gutt introduces ISA Server 2004. Great job, Zach!
Gates keynote: ISA Server 2004 demo.
Gates keynote: Gates discusses Longhorn wave.
Microsoft Research's Susan Dumais demonstrates "Stuff I've Seen".
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: Planar flat-panel displays.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: New Sony all-in-one PC.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: New Toshiba notebooks.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: New Toshiba Tablet PC.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: Dell's excellent DJ portable audio device.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: New Acer 14-inch Tablet PC device.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: The first Smartphone 2003-based phone, due in early 2004.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: Dell's new 17" LCD TV/PC display. I. must. get. one.
Digital Focus/Mobile Focus: New Dell 30" LCD flat-screen television.
On Monday, we began two straight days of back-to-back meetings, including breakfast with Snapstream, several Microsoft meetings (anti-spam and Exchange Server, Tablet PC 2004, and Windows Mobile), meetings with Viewsonic and IBM ThinkPad, and several with various groups at Hewlett-Packard (personal systems group, handhelds, commercial desktop group, consumer desktop group, commercial notebook group, and enterprise imaging and printing press). Then, we headed to two press parties, a Pepcom Monday Night Football bash at ESPNZone and Showstoppers at the Venetian.
Crowds stream into the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) as COMDEX opens.
Another crowd shot.
Tablet PC briefing: HP's new Tablet PC.
Tablet PC briefing: New tablets from Viewsonic, Toshiba, and Gateway.
Windows Mobile 2003 briefing: New Pocket PCs and Smartphone 2003 devices.
Windows Mobile 2003 briefing: Comparing new Smartphones from Samsung and Motorola.
Windows Mobile 2003 briefing: More comparisons.
Windows Mobile 2003 briefing: Smartphone 2002 vs. Smartphone 2003.
Windows Mobile 2003 briefing: Toshiba's latest Pocket PC 2003 devices sports a 640 x 480 VGA display.
Viewsonic briefing: Viewsonic's latest Tablet PC, a convertible laptop.
Viewsonic briefing: Paul checks out the new Viewsonic Tablet PC.
Viewsonic briefing: Viewsonic uses Microsoft's universal control system.
Viewsonic briefing: New Viewsonic Smart Display offers a full Windows CE .NET install.
Viewsonic briefing: Viewsonic Pocket PC with low-power-consumption wireless SDIO card.
Viewsonic briefing: Viewsonic's thin edge technology makes multi-monitor more useful.
Viewsonic briefing: Paul examines Viewsonic's latest LCD TVs.
Viewsonic briefing: Taking multi-monitor to a logical, and excellent, extreme.
HP briefings: HP's incredible new Compaq X Gaming PC, which will be offered in limited quantities.
HP briefings: The Compaq X is wrapped in an awesome aluminum case with removable sides.
HP briefings: HP's new widescreen displays sport a unique pivoting capability.
Our meeting marathon continued Tuesday after breakfast with some friends from Dell: We met with several more Microsoft groups (Automotive Business Unit [Voice control], SPOT, Enterprise/Windows Server, and Developer), Synaptics, Arcsoft, and Newsgator. That evening, we finished up some work and took in Cirque du Soleil's new Vegas show, which wasn't that great. Three hours later, I was headed back to the airport for the trip home. Typical.
Bellagio: atrium.
Bellagio: atrium.
Exterior, Bellagio.
Exterior, Bellagio.
Exterior, Bellagio.
A special treat for WinInfo fans: Frank Stallone live at the Stardust!!
SPOT briefing: Suunto's $299 SPOT watch.
SPOT briefing: SPOT briefing: Fossil's $179 SPOT watch.
SPOT briefing: Fossil SPOT watch charging station.
SPOT briefing: Suunto SPOT watch charging clip.
SPOT briefing: The first SPOT device prototype.
COMDEX show floor: Microsoft booth.
COMDEX show floor: Microsoft booth.
COMDEX show floor: Microsoft booth.
COMDEX show floor: Dell booth.
COMDEX show floor.
COMDEX show floor: Anti-spam pavillion.
Because of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), we're not able to fully reveal all of the information we recorded during our COMDEX meetings.
