www.apple.com/ipod/start

 

“On the PC side, CES is going to be a netbook love fest,” Enderle said.

“Apple may have something online and Google is doing something,” he said. “The expectation is that Google has its own PC platform coming and will throw it on a netbook — they want everything to be online and the netbook leads itself better to Google than to Microsoft and Apple.”

Analysts said CES should also feature the introduction of a new mobile phone based on the Android open source platform promoted by Google.

US telecom firm T-Mobile launched the first “Google phone” in 2008.

Dunion said “uber themes” at CES are likely to include green technology trimming power needs of gadgets while employing more recyclable and non-toxic materials in construction.

Television screens ideal for home theaters and increasingly rich graphics will once again get high-profile at CES. Increasingly sophisticated pixel qualities should set the stage for a surge in 3D viewing experiences.

“We really think next year 3D is going to really take off,” said Ujesh Desai, a GeForce vice president at premier graphics chip-making firm NVIDIA.

Japanese electronics giant Sony is backing a first-ever national broadcast of a US college football game in 3D using the technology of Cinedigm and 3ality.

“The biggest thing I see is the consumers expect high-definition entertainment,” said Hewlett Packard marketing executive John Cook. “I’m expecting to see quite a lot of that on the show floor.”

While televisions are routinely a central theme at CES, the emphasis should be heightened this time by a mandated switch from analogue to exclusively digital broadcasting in the United States in February.

Support for Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology has gained momentum since the Sony-backed technology was declared winner of its format war with Toshiba’s HD-DVD systems at CES last year, according to analysts.

The result could be more manufacturers leaping into the Blu-ray arena.

Smart gadgets, lifelike video, and pocket versions of laptop computers are expected to be Consumer Electronics Show (CES) stars as the annual extravaganza follows its gizmos onto the Web.

Undaunted by global economic turmoil, some 2,700 makers of televisions, computers, mobile telephones, chips and other technological wares will tout their latest innovations at the 2009 International CES in Las Vegas from January 8-11.

Added to the mix will be studios that make films, television shows, and music delivered digitally to devices increasingly tied to the Internet.

CES itself is not immune to online trends driving much of the technology it spotlights.

For the first time, CES has its own profile page on hot social-networking website Facebook and a team will fire off curt show floor revelations in the form of “tweets” on micro-blogging service Twitter.

A CES video team will rove the event feeding content for its own YouTube channel.

“We are a technology trade show and this is how our attendees are communicating with each other,” said CES spokeswoman Tara Dunion. “We are getting our perspective out there as to what we find interesting, and getting feedback.”

Known as a place for deal-making as well as promoting hot new gadgets, CES attendees reportedly average about a dozen behind-the-scenes meetings each.

“CES is the place where the global technology industry comes together,” Dunion said. “Even though consumer is in the name it is really more tech oriented.”

Rumors regarding CES announcements include word that Microsoft might unveil a revamped Zune in a bid to knock Apple’s iPod from its throne atop the MP3 player market.

Palm is expected to introduce an overhauled operating system in what could be a last-ditch effort to reclaim former glory in a “smart” handheld device realm that it pioneered but lost to competitors.

“A big thing will be the launch of Palm’s new Nova,” said analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. “It could be a swan song for Palm or the rebirth of the company.”

Cable television equipment supplier Digeo is also under pressure to deliver on an innovative digital media recorder that links to Internet services and televisions, according to NPD analyst Ross Rubin.

Microsoft is likely to use CES for a “coming out party” for a Windows 7 operating system to succeed Vista software that has been a target of relentless loathing by many computer users, according to Enderle.

Still, while it isn’t a predictor of holiday sales, the day after Thanksgiving is an important barometer of people’s willingness to spend for the rest of the season. And particularly this year, analysts will dissect how the economy is shaping buying habits in a season that many analysts predict could see a contraction in spending from a year ago.

Last year, the Thanksgiving shopping weekend of Friday through Sunday accounted for about 10 percent of overall holiday sales, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp.

The group hasn’t released estimates for Black Friday sales this year, but experts believe it will remain one of the season’s biggest selling days, even as shoppers remain deliberate in their spending.

“This is definitely a hit-and-run mentality,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group. “They are running in, grabbing the deal and running out. This is what I am seeing this morning.”

 Shoppers, had snapped their wallets shut since September, flocked to stores before dawn Friday to grab deals on everything from TVs to toys on the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, feared to be the weakest in decades.

It was clear that despite the crowds that showed up for the discounts, shoppers’ worries about the economy — massive layoffs, tightening credit and dwindling retirement accounts — tempered buying.

Retailers extended their hours, some opening at midnight, and offered deals that promised to be deeper and wider than even the deep discounts that shoppers found throughout November.

Best Buy, which threw its doors open at 5 a.m. offered such specials as a 49-inch Panasonic plasma HDTV for $899.99 and a $189.99 GPS device by Garmin. Toys “R” Us was offering up to 60 percent discounts from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Many consumers, clutching the store circulars, were focused on a few bargains Friday and said they were slashing their overall holiday budgets from a year ago as they juggle paying their rent and other bills while putting food on the table. Even for the growing number of parents who were limiting their gift buying to just their children this year, financial troubles were forcing them to be stingy.

“I have never slept here before to save a few bucks, but with the economy so bad I thought that even a few dollars helps,” said Analita Garcia of Falls Church, Va., who arrived at a local Best Buy store at 7 a.m. Thursday with 10 family members. She bought a Dynax LCD 32-inch TV for $400, slashed from $500, along with an iPod and several DVDs.

“This year a lot of people I know won’t be getting Christmas presents. I have to pay the rent and bills, and I have two little ones at home to think of,” Garcia added.

At the Best Buy store in Syracuse, N.Y., a line snaked past stores and around walkways on the second floor of Carousel Center a few moments before the store’s 5 a.m. opening — about eight hours after some people near the front of the line had arrived. Rob Schoeneck, the mall’s manager, estimated about 1,000 people were waiting for the electronics store to open and said the crowd was about the same size as a year ago.

Inside, Kira Carinci, 33, a teacher from Cicero, N.Y., searched for the $80 “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock” video game and guitar controller bundle for her son but said she is more concerned about money than she was last holiday season. She said she had set aside a certain amount for Christmas spending.

“I don’t usually save, so this year is a little different,” she said.

By 3:43 a.m., about 50 people had lined up in preparation for the 5 a.m. opening at a Wal-Mart store in Cary, N.C. Shannon Keane, 38, of Cary, who arrived with her son, Miles, 13, at midnight, said she was buying only one item today: an iPod for her son.

“He really wanted this one thing,” Keane said. “So we’re here for this one thing.”

Keane, who was recently laid off from her job at an insurance company, said she was on a budget this year because her unemployment checks were also helping support family in Colorado.

“I really can’t focus on gifts,” she said. “I have to focus more on helping them pay their bills. It’s hard,” she said of being a single mom on a small income. “I’ve always filled the tree. But you have to be honest. This year, I’ll do the best I can.”

Joyce and Kevin Kirk of Georgtown in southwest Ohio, who arrived at Kohl’s at Eastgate Mall in suburban Cincinnati, at 4 a.m Friday, bought toys for the baby and clothing for her older children, mostly at 50 percent to 60 percent off.

She said they decided to focus more on the kids this year and cut down on gifts for other people. Her husband, a construction worker, wasn’t getting enough work at his company and recently switched to another company.

“We just can’t do as much this year because of the economy,” said Joyce Kirk, who aims to cut her holiday budget to $1,000. She usually spent $3,000 to $4,000 on Christmas gifts.

Wayne Patty and his wife Patty Blalock, who arrived at a Kohl’s store in Miramar, Fla., shortly after 4 a.m. Friday, said they were planning to spend $300 to $400 on each of their their five children, down from about $600 each a year ago. They were buying mostly toys and clothing for their children, but for their 24-year-old daughter, they’re planning a more practical gift: an appointment to the dentist because she doesn’t have insurance.

“We’re much more budgeted and regimented this year, versus last year, when there was more impulse spending,” said Patty.

Black Friday received its name because it historically was the day when a surge of shoppers helped stores break into profitability for the full year. But this year, with rampant promotions of up to 70 percent throughout the month amid a deteriorating economy, the power of this landmark day for the retail industry could be fading.