CEA plans Digital Downtown reprise, Greener Gadgets show for 2009

NEW YORK, N.Y. - The CEA, producers of the long running CES show in Las Vegas, also plans to host two conferences in New York City next year: Greener Gadgets and the second edition of Digital Downtown.

From June 10 to June 12, 2009, the industry group will reprise Digital Downtown, a show that made its first appearance last year, said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro, speaking to journalists at a pre-CES event in Manhattan yesterday.

The CEA has also taken over Greener Gadgets, a conference previously operated by Inhabitat and Marc Alt + Partners. The first edition of Greener Gadgets, held on February 2, 2008, focused on areas such as hybrid vehicles, alternative energy, and green design and architecture. Presenters included HP, Nokia, Sony, Philips, and Intel.

The CEA's first iteration of Green Gadgets will happen on February 27, 2009, Shapiro told the journalists.

A key idea behind the Digital Downtown event is to get new products out into the community, where end users can explore and play around with PCs and other consumer devices without the buying pressures they face in walking into consumer electronics stores. Exhibitors at Digital Downtown 2008 included Toshiba, LG, and Pioneer, to name a few.

At a series of June conferences held in earlier years in New York, including Bruno Blenheim's long running PC Expo, consumers were shut out in favor of corporate buyers.

The CEA expects that Digital Downtown 2009 will be larger than last year's show, said Rachel Costello, Digital Downtown's show manager, speaking with BetaNews at the CES Unveiled@NY press event last night. Like the first Digital Downtown, though, it will be held in an indoor hall and outdoor tents at the World Financial Center, in a setting surrounded by restaurants, shops, and a boat marina on the Hudson River.

In association with Digital Downtown 2009, the CEA will add an offering for vendors known as Summer Line Shows, for holding meetings with the media and corporate buyers, Costello said. Summer Line Shows will take place in a hotel about three minutes away by foot from the World Financial Center, according to the show manager.