Canon to skip PMA: Is this the beginning of the end?

DPreview and the PDN Gear Guide are reporting that Canon is not planning to attend PMA 2010, one of the photo industry's biggest trade shows.  Though Canon has traditionally had a HUGE presence at PMA (scheduled to take place February 21 to 23 in Anaheim, Calif., next year), the camera giant is planning to focus its attentions on 2010 CES, the Consumer Electronics Association's big show taking place January 7 to 10 in Las Vegas.

Why the break with tradition? Canon's party line that it's not about cutting expenses but that product life cycles are moving faster and trade show timing limits what the company wants to do seems somewhat disingenuous considering that product announcements haven't been limited to the big trade shows. But it does make sense that Canon wants to focus on a bigger and broader general consumer electronics audience rather than limiting itself to photo-industry attendees (PMA 2009 attendance was a mere 15,000 vs. 110,000 at CES).

Whatever the impetus, it does not bode well for the PMA show in general. As with CES, PMA attendance has been dropping over the past years and with most camera vendors tightening budgets and trying to broaden their customer base, it won't surprise me to find other big names following suit. (Remember what happened after Dell skipped Comdex?)

[Via PDN Gear Guide]