Amid growing fears around the latest Omicron Covid-19 variant surge and rise in the number of cases globally, top global brands including BMW, IBM, Panasonic, and Mercedes have joined the ranks with top tech companies that have decided not to attend the ‘CES 2022' in-person in Las Vegas.
While Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the governing body on CES, plans to go ahead with the show, several tech companies like OnePlus, AMD, MSI, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Lenovo, T-Mobile, AT&T, Meta, Twitter, Amazon, TikTok, Pinterest, Alphabet-owned Waymo, along with several media outlets, will not attend the consumer electronics show.
“Out of an abundance of caution, BMW will move all planned media activities at CES to a fully online programme from Germany on January 5,” BMW said in a statement to The Verge. In addition, fellow German automaker Mercedes-Benz is going to skip the in-person event as well.
In a statement, Panasonic North America CEO Megan Myungwon Lee said, “The health and safety of our employees, partners, and customers remain our top priority. With this commitment in mind, we have updated our hybrid CES activation plans maintaining a modified physical footprint, with limited on-site staff, following CTA's health safety protocols as well as our own proactive measures to ensure the health and well-being of attendees.”
According to CTA, over 2,200 companies have confirmed to participate in person at ‘CES 2022' in Las Vegas. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, one of the CES 2022's featured speakers, announced that his company won't be attending the world's largest electronics show next month.
The world's most influential tech event is slated to showcase some first-time innovations around Blockchain-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs), remote health solutions, self-driving cars, gaming, food, and space tech.
