By Don Clark
A symbolic changing of the guard at the Consumer Electronics Show featured a surprise appearance by the old guard–Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, who helped Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs kick off his first-ever opening keynote at the show.
Microsoft's decision not to take part in CES–after 12 years of taking charge of the opening night keynote, under Ballmer and predecessor Bill Gates–has been characterized as a sign that the massive event is losing some of its mojo.
But the show has long been a focal point for action in the mobile-device market, a field PC players like Microsoft and Intel are determined to penetrate. Ballmer almost bounded across the stage to talk up its collaboration with Qualcomm, whose chips are powering many Microsoft-powered smartphones–and also tablet computers, since a new version of the software called Windows RT arrived in late October.
The balding Microsoft chief even intoned the chip maker's slogan for the show–"born mobile"–in unison with Jacobs.
Ballmer's cameo was just one of series of surprises promised by Qualcomm for its keynote, which included whizzy videos and demos of new movies running on Qualcomm's new Snapdragon chip. Others include appearances by Sesame's Street's Big Bird and NASCAR personalities, actress Alice Eve from the forthcoming "Star Trek" movie and a recorded video snippet about mobile health applications by Desmond Tutu.
Jacobs also said the registration opens Tuesday for the competition to create a medical device akin to Star Trek's tricorder, which was first broached in his speed last year.
As the event drew toward a close, Jacobs welcomed a shiny Rolls Royce whose gasoline engine had been replaced by an electric one–to show off a new Qualcomm wireless charging technology–and three members of the band Maroon5 for three mostly unplugged songs.
All in all, just another day in Vegas. "I'm fired up," Jacobs said, repeatedly.
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