Several major multimedia innovations have emerged at the American trade show, which is held in Las Vegas every year. The two most famous examples are perhaps the video recorder, presented by Sony in 1970 when it premiered its U-Matic system prototype, and the compact disc (CD) premiered in 1981, which was also developed by Sony in collaboration with Philips.
CES was also the venue for the display of the first DVDs (Toshiba, 1996) and the first Blu-ray discs (Sony, 2003), which finally vanquished the competing HD DVD format (Toshiba).
Among the consumer appliances that first appeared at CES, the most noteworthy are the camcorder (JVC and Sony, 1981), and the first plasma screens (Toshiba and Hitachi, 2001).
There were also other inventions that didn't survive the test of time: who can remember the LaserDisc (Philips, 1974), the CD-i (Philips and Sony, 1991) or the MiniDisc (Sony, 1993).
In the area of video games, CES hosted the presentation of such legendary consoles as the NES (Nintendo, 1985) and the Xbox (Microsoft, 2001).
More recently, the CES has seen the first OLED televisions and the first 3D TVs. And let's not forget that Las Vegas also premiered the first Android tablets, just a few weeks before Apple launched the iPad in 2010.
The first-ever CES, which was held in New York in June 1967, brought together some 200 exhibitors. Since then the event has moved to Nevada, and become the key trade fair of its kind. Every year the CES welcomes more than 3,500 exhibitors from around the world.
