Showcasing more than 20,000 products from a record number of over 3,200 exhibitors in an exhibition space of 0.17 million square meters, the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) turned out to be one of the largest in the event's 44-year-old history.
Though Apple was absent, its dominating influence was felt everywhere throughout the world's largest consumer technology trade show, which ended in Las Vegas on Friday.
While other top-notch brands are touting their versions of Ultrabook, Smartphone, Smart TV and Tablets, Apple once again proved its status as the industry's most innovative firm and role model.
Over 300 companies exhibited Apple accessories, even more defined their products in terms of Apple's products.
"It's now clear that one theme will dominate this year's International Consumer Electronics Show: catching up with Apple," said the San Francisco Chronicle on its website.
At last year's CES, it was all about Tablets. This year, the super-thin Ultrabooks are in the show's spotlight. The "Ultrabook" laptops are making computers as attractive as Tablets while retaining standard performance.
More than 30 types of Ultrabooks were presented by PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Acer, Samsung and others.
The concept of "Ultrabook" was created by computer processor giant Intel in 2011 in response to Apple's Macbook Air.
CNET, the official streaming media partner of CES, said in a review that "The Ultrabook format has been described as a MacBook Air running the Windows OS."
In the competition for the best Smartphone of CES 2012, Nokia's Lumia 900 came out on top, staging a comeback for the mobile phone leader Nokia after it joined hands with software giant Microsoft. Other ambitious contenders include Lenovo K800, the world's first Smartphone containing Intel's powerful chip.
However, no matter how smart, fast or pretty the new Smartphones are, their significance to the industry in the innovative sense is overshadowed by Apple's iPhone.
Matthias Person, an exhibitor and chief executive officer of the German company iBolt, which is doing business related to Apple's products, told Xinhua that he thought iPhone is still the most popular one on the market.
"Maybe there will be an increase in Android systems in the future, but Apple will still have the lead in this technology," he said.
As regards living room technology, Smart TV dominated the scene.
Samsung, LG, Lenovo, Hisense and many other TV manufacturers were promoting their Smart TVs at the show.
Liu Jun, Lenovo's senior vice president, told media at the sidelines of the CES that Smart TV is the new trend and will ultimately replace traditional TV.
Philip Newton, Samsung Australia's audiovisual director, told media that Apple TV is old news, but that Smart TV is the future and has already arrived.
But that future seems to have Apple written all over it, as competitors are already anticipating Apple's iTV, the last project of the deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system is being praised by industry insiders and is seen as a milestone for the software giant. This signals Microsoft's entry into the fields of communication and the Internet, Liu Jun said.
However, global financial services firm Morgan Stanley was not at all optimistic that Windows 8 is able to pump up PC sales to beat Apple.
"We are in the middle of a technology revolution," Consumer Electronics Association chief Gary Shapiro told Xinhua. However, a real revolution to lift the industry out of Apple's shadow has yet to take place.
I know, shocker.
