“Microsoft Bows Out Of CES 2013″ read the headline. It was December 21, 2011, several short weeks before CES 2012 and Microsoft just dropped a bomb: Microsoft would not be returning to CES. Steve Ballmer’s 2012 CES keynote would be his last. It was clear the consumer electronics landscape was changing. As Greg Kumparak wrote for TC at the time, CES 2012 was the noisiest show in recent history. It was dying under its own weight. Something had to change.

And change it has. Next week’s CES 2013 is shaping up to be radically different. It’s the year of the gadget startup.

This year’s CES will not feature Microsoft, Nokia, Dell or HP. The pre-show press coverage has been very quiet. There hasn’t been a circle jerk around blurry images of upcoming flagship gadgets. The traditional gadget blogs have not talking about the show as much because it’s shaping up differently. It’s no longer about the massive players and this rejiggering really excites us at TechCrunch. CES 2013 might finally live up to the show’s potential: to be the greatest gathering of forward-thinking products and electronics.

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