Just read an interesting article about how things are really changing.

Apple and other big players have their own venues to announce product launches and MS appears to be taking that route as well.

Microsoft said it decided to pull out of the show after the January 2012 because it no longer fits company needs and its timing does not always mesh with product announcements.“We asked, ‘Are we doing something because it’s the right thing to do, or because it’s the way we’ve always done it?’” Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s vice president of communications, said in a blog post.
- http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/22/1954781/microsoft-leaves-major-tech-show.html#storylink=cpy

The Consumer Electronics Association (which runs the CES) didn’t seem particularly fazed by MS’s announcement. It figures the space will be sold in no time at all.

The reason behind MS leaving the show is probably incompatibility with its own development schedule, and ‘bang for the buck’. MS has a huge guaranteed audience without CES.

Steve Ballmer will still be giving the Keynote speech next month, although it might be for the last time.

Source: above.