The buzz at the Consumer Electrics Show - at least as measured by Webtrends- is all about Microsoft. It some ways it is understandable - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, after all, delivered the keynote presentation at the show. Attendees, though, notably Wired, dubbed it "somnolent" and "almost news-free" although Ballmer did announce that Xbox 360 users would soon be able to use Kinect to control Netflix via gestures and voice and that Hulu Plus will be coming to Xbox 360 with Kinect support. Still, Webtrends, which is capturing online conversations at the show, says the speech was enough to propel Microsoft to the top of the buzz chart, at least for the time being, followed closely by by Samsung, Google, Apple and LG.
Some of that buzz, however, is likely to be negative - particularly about its tablet strategy. Intel, for instance, has been asking the company to build Windows for smaller devices - with little response, according to comments Tom Kilroy, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group made to CNET. Another Microsoft announcement at CES was its next Windows release for power-efficient processors suitable for tablets - but on ARM.
Not surprisingly, another much buzzed topics at CES is, yes, tablets. CES 2011will be known as the year of the tablet, Webtrends says, but with so many different models out there, it's hard to see who really reigns supreme - even if Microsoft has been crowned CES Buzz Master.
