Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
Unstable Wi-Fi, excessive F&B prices irk participants at CES 2023
Participants at the CES 2023 walk around the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada, Thursday (local time). Yonhap
By Park Jae-hyuk
By Park Jae-hyuk
LAS VEGAS ― Questions have been raised again this year among participants at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) about whether it truly lives up to its reputation as the world's leading tech show.
Although the global event has returned to Las Vegas this week at full scale for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, issues that have annoyed participants for a long time remained unsolved.
Samsung Electronics was among those affected, as its Bespoke Private Showcase event on Wednesday (local time) was ruined due to an unstable wireless internet connection.
Korea's largest conglomerate had initially planned to promote its internet of things (IoT) technology in relation to its smart refrigerators but couldn't.
A Samsung Electronics employee had to apologize to journalists at the event several times, as the company's fridge continuously showed an error message that read, “Wi-Fi not available. Check your Wi-Fi connection,” on its screen, whenever the employee tried to search for recipes or perform shopping tasks via the refrigerator.
Similarly, last year, LG Electronics saw its exhibition ruined at the CES due to the same reason. An unstable Wi-Fi connection prevented visitors from taking a look at the company's products using augmented reality technology. In 2018, an abrupt blackout turned off almost all devices displayed by leading global tech firms.
After witnessing such poor network infrastructure, HD Hyundai distributed press kits this year by using USB memory sticks, instead of using QR codes or webpage links.
“The internet infrastructure in Las Vegas is too poor to host the world's largest tech show,” a participant from one of Korea's leading companies said.
First-time visitors were also surprised by the excessively high prices at restaurants and hotels in Las Vegas.
Hotels in Las Vegas are considered relatively more affordable than those in major U.S. cities. However, they quadrupled or quintupled their prices during the CES, as most of the city's hotels were fully booked.
“I paid nearly $30 to buy a small-size toothpaste at a store inside my hotel,” said one of the CES participants, who forgot to bring his toothbrush and toothpaste.
Korean restaurants prepared different menus with higher prices during the event, as the top executives of Korean conglomerates still prefer eating Korean food at least for dinner.
A participant from Korea's leading conglomerates complained about a Korean restaurant, which he had visited three days before the opening of this year's event, claiming that the restaurant did not inform him of its plan to raise food prices during the tech show.