Gadget Train

This week Gary Shapiro, chief exec of of the CEA (the trade group which puts on CES, and, full disclosure, for which I sometimes consult) held a private dinner with journalists in San Francisco. According to Dow Jones / WSJ reporter Ben Charny (whose first Google result is this page on shoddy journalism), a juicy morsel was revealed: “Apple plans to attend the show’s 2010 version, marking the first time in memory the Cupertino, Calif., consumer-electronics giant will be there.” Very interesting, indeed.

Unfortunately, it’s also specious and flatly wrong. I was seated directly across from Gary, and present for the entire conversation, wherein a dozen or so other journos chatted with with him and one another. When asked about the CEA’s ongoing contact with Jobs, Gary joked that every once in a while Steve might even return his email — to which we all laughed knowingly. Yep, that’s our Steve. Shapiro went on to mention that Apple was a great and long-standing supporter of the efforts of the CEA, but that their only direct involvement was sending a check each year to pay their membership dues.

At no point did Gary even remotely imply that Apple would be present at a future CES — let alone state flatly that Apple “will be there” in 2010. In fact, at one point, someone asked if, hypothetically, Apple did want to attend CES, whether the CEA could accommodate them. Gary said flatly that if pressed, they might be able to come up with a small 2,000 square foot booth, but they couldn’t do anything, say, Microsoft-sized on such short notice. Bottom line, though is that if Gary had even gotten remotely close implying Apple would be at CES, this shoddily sourced piece by Charny wouldn’t have been the earliest story with the scoop nearly 24 hours after the fact — laptops have would been immediately out for reports filed from the dinner table.

Now, I’m not saying Apple won’t be there. But Gary and the CEA certainly never said or implied that they would, and Charny certainly didn’t cite any other sources. Maybe by “Apple plans to attend” Charny meant one of Apple’s 32,000 employees would happen to be in Vegas next January. Of course, the greatest irony of this little dinner was was the lively debate at the end of the evening sparked by one particular old school BusinessWeek journalist who laid claim that tech blogs like Engadget publish first and ask questions later. Right.

Ryan Block is editor emeritus of Engadget, and co-founder of the recently-launched gdgt.

Filed under: CES

WSJ: Apple going to CES 2010. Reality: Nope. originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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