Recap – The CES opening keynote has, traditionally been not just a keynote. Placed in the heart of the Las Vegas strip, the opening keynote has always been a show with flashy announcements and explorations of future computer and consumer electronics technologies (with the exception of the initial Bill Gates appearance in 1998). After 13 keynotes, Microsoft will depart from CES and some may agree that it was time for Microsoft to move on as there were no CES worthy announcements during a 70 minute marketing pitch that was an hour too long.

I was lucky enough to have seen 10 of Microsoft’s CES keynotes and have to admit that I almost shed tears when I heard that Microsoft would be discontinuing its opening keynote agreement with the CEA. One of the reasons mentioned by Microsoft was that CES isn’t aligned with Microsoft’s product roadmap and other shows are better suited to make product announcements. Anyone who watched the keynote on the Eve of CES 2012, could see that there is some truth to that statement. There was no big announcement and Microsoft had trouble filling its 70 minutes with content and ended up rehashing what was said in the past 12 months. Even Ballmer, a showman and great entertainer on big stages, appeared to be unusually focused on phrases that were dictated by the marketing department. Natural interaction with computers was one of the themes of the keynote, but the performance of Ballmer, Microsoft reps on stage as well as host Ryan Seacrest were the opposite and rather robotic. Too much scripting can kill a presentation and that may have happened to Microsoft on Monday night.

CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro, quite possibly the most powerful and influential personality in the consumer electronics industry today, is not the best presenter at CES, but he gave Ballmer a great start by stating that Microsoft is simply taking a pause and that the will return to CES sometime in the future. It was a mutual agreement, he said.

For a brief moment, Shapiro and Ballmer were best buddies on stage. Those who have been wondering whether there has been a falling out, now knew that Ballmer and Shapiro still must have a secret love affair. To me, however, it appeared like a splitting couple that needs a break from annoying the other. In a professional manner, they publicly commit to their love, but there is a good chance that they rather would have preferred to punch eachother, at least backstage. Whether Microsoft comes back or not is about as likely as a divorcing couple that will reconcile, because the simple presence of court papers tells them that the split is a dumb idea. Of course, that is pure speculation.

Whatever it is, Microsoft had a big chance for going out with a bang. There was speculation that Bill Gates would get a slot. There was speculation for some great videos and music performances, as it is the tradition for the Microsoft keynote. Also, we thought there could be significant product announcements and demonstrations of visionary devices and software. Or the announcement of the acquisition of Nokia. All right, I can live without Hollywood celebs, without Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Carrie Underwood. But the lack of Gates and big announcements was disappointing. Sorry, Microsoft, Ryan Seacrest did not cut it.

So, on the announcement side, we learned that T-Mobile will be selling the Nokia Lumia 710 phone, that the 800 will be coming soon and that the Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan 2 (with a 16MP camera!) will be the first LTE phones for Windows Phone. The Windows Store will go live in February and initially feature only free apps. The store will go global in more than 100 languages and in more than 200 markets. A rather boring demonstration of Windows 8 featured unusually frequent notes that the Metro interface will work with the mouse and a keyboard as well, which is a reaction to doubt that Microsoft will be able to attract upgrade buyers from Windows 7 PCs. No further news were delivered on Windows 8 – it was an old presentation that even lacked the most recent news posted on Microsoft’s Building Windows 8 blog. Xbox was demonstrated in a painfully scripted presentation that highlighted the voice interface and upcoming engage-with-your-TV shows – Sesame Street episodes that ask you to participate in activities. Ultrabooks were mentioned briefly, and Intel was praised for its work. Oh, and Kinect for Windows will be coming on February 1 (for $250), Ballmer told us. To conclude the show, Seacrest asked Ballmer what will be next for Microsoft. There it was, a “one more thing” moment for Microsoft. But it merely was a setup for an ending of a show that had drowned in a two-way barstool chat an hour before. Ballmer replied: “Metro, Metro, Metro! And Windows, Windows, Windows!” The exclamation marks are indicative of Ballmer’s voice volume, not of his excitement.

On a reasonable level, keynotes reflect the image of a company. Especially the prestigious CES opening keynote has reached such a high level of expectation that it was easy for Ballmer to underdeliver, but today’s performance was a bust. While the show in Las Vegas in itself was a letdown, the lack of highlights was a miss and the lack of announcements a waste of time for the audience. Perhaps it was that Microsoft is tired of CES. Perhaps Ballmer is tired of CES and Bill Gates could care even less. The good news for Microsoft, of course, is that no one will miss this Microsoft at CES 2013 and the expectations for Ballmer’s next keynote are now below sea level. And, of course, the previous stunning keynote performance of Microsoft outweigh this rather disappointing example.

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