Every January, almost 5,000 companies and 180,000 people descended on Las Vegas, for the biggest industry trade show in the world.

每年一月大約會有 5000 家公司、18 萬人飛到拉斯維加斯，出席這場全球規模最大的產業展覽。

Every electronics company you've ever heard of is there, along with thousands of others that you haven't.

大家耳熟能詳的、還有沒沒無聞的電子公司都會參加。

Except for Apple, and that matters a lot.

然而蘋果是個重要的大例外。

Apple never had a booth at CES.

Apple 從未在 CES 會場中設展。

Instead, the company would offer a keynote at the annual Macworld Expo, an event dedicated to all things Mac.

而是選擇在每年的 Macworld Expo中以簡報展示；Macworld Expo 是 Mac 系列產品的獨家展示秀。

iTunes, Safari, the Mac mini, and even the iPhone all saw their debut at various Macworld events.

在不同 Macworld 場次裡，iTunes、Safari、Mac mini，甚至是 iPhone 皆首度呈現在眾人面前。

It was at the Macworld in 2007 that Steve Jobs said the company would be changing its name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc.

2007 的 Macworld 會展上，賈伯斯宣布蘋果電腦將更名為蘋果公司。

So, we're announcing today, we're dropping the "Computer" from our name, and from this day forward, we're going to be known as Apple Incorporated.

今天我們宣布要把「電腦」這兩個字拿掉，從此以後我們就是「蘋果公司」。

Apple stopped presenting at Macworld in 2009.

蘋果從 2009 年開始，不再於 Macworld 進行展示。

Instead choosing to put on their own events, like the annual September keynote that introduces the new iPhone.

蘋果轉而舉辦自家活動，像是在每年九月的 Keynote 展演發表 iPhone 新機。

Meanwhile, other companies continued to debut their new products for the year at CES.

與此同時，其他公司繼續在 CES 發表年度新產品。

Motorola, Samsung, Microsoft, and many other companies all used that week in January to show off all their new offerings.

摩托羅拉、三星、微軟，還有許多其他公司都選在一月的同一個星期展示新產品。

If it had any sort of combination of wires, batteries, a screen, or used the internet, it probably debuted at CES.

不管是在線路、電池、螢幕、網路使用上有什麼新搭配，通常都會在 CES 初登場。

And that began to become a problem.

漸漸地這變成一個問題。

As tech products like smartphones became more and more ubiquitous, products that were unveiled at CES would all overshadow one another, leading to less headlines and coverage for each new product.

由於手機等科技產品日益普及，在 CES 展出的產品會互掩光芒，稀釋掉每項新產品之關注焦點、相關報導。

A new Android phone might be universally praised, but that didn't matter if a rival introduced theirs on the next day.

即便一台新 Android 系統手機大獲好評，要是競爭對手選在隔天推出新款，效果就會大打折扣。

Many of the big tech names all began to mirror Apple's approach.

許多科技大廠開始仿效蘋果的做法。

Companies like Motorola, Samsung, Google, Blackberry - remember them - and Microsoft all began to host their own events on their own day.

像是摩托洛拉、三星、谷歌、黑莓—還記得它們嗎？—還有微軟都開始自訂日期、自己舉辦活動。

The events became news themselves.

這些活動本身就是媒體焦點。

Outlets would cover the invitations sent to influencers and the press, and speculate in the days leading up to the event what might be announced.

在邀請網路名人以及媒體時也會提供相關訊息，活動前幾天就開始揣測發布內容。

By choosing a day a company knows nothing else will be announced, executives can count on many of the big tech headlines and stories being solely about them.

知道自己選了不會有其他新發表的日子，執行長們不用怕頭條與報導失焦。

Just look at OnePlus.

看看中國企業「一加」就知道了。

This past fall they had planned to unveil the new OnePlus 6T on October 30th, but when Apple announced the 2018 iPad event for the same day, OnePlus rescheduled their event to a day earlier.

去年秋天他們原本計畫在 10 月 30 日推出 OnePlus 6T，可是當蘋果宣布將在同一天推出 2018 年的 iPad，一加就把活動提前了一天。

OnePlus CEO Pete Lau even acknowledged the problem on the company's message boards.

執行長劉作虎甚至在公司訊息版上點出這個問題。

"We have only just begun our journey, and cannot afford to let one of the most important products in our history be affected by another great product launch."

「我們才剛起步，不能冒險讓史上最重要的產品之一被另一場出色的產品發表影響。」

The number of CES attendees in 2018 dropped by 2,000 compared to 2017.

2018 年 CES 與會者比起去年少了兩千人。

That might sound like a lot, but when we're talking about 180,000 people, it's a little more than one percent.

聽起來很多，但基數是 18 萬人，減少的兩千人不過是百分之一再多一點。

So, for now, CES continues to be an important event in the tech world, despite Apple and other tech giants going their own way when it comes to introducing new products.

因此，儘管蘋果以及其他科技巨頭都採用自己的方法來推出新產品，目前 CES 仍舊是科技界的重要盛會。

It provides a great opportunity for smaller tech companies to get their products out there, and for consumers to learn about upcoming technology like connected cars.

CES 讓較小型的科技公司有很棒的機會展出產品，並且讓消費者接觸前端科技，像是互聯汽車。

But more importantly, it's still an event that puts much of the tech industry in one place at the same time, and there's still a lot to be said for that human connection.

而重點在於 CES 仍然是在同一地點、同一時間聚集科技界產出的活動，其中的人際互動也依舊意義重大。

How can I be of service?

我能夠為你做什麼？

Very firm hug, Pepper, very firm.

緊緊的擁抱，Pepper，我要緊緊的擁抱。