CES 2009: So Far, So BoringCES 2009: So Far, So Boring

It's CES Eve's Eve here in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Association kicked things off to a somber start with the CES Unveiled event, a veritable snoozefest of lackluster gadgets and gizmos.Oh boy.

It's going to be an interesting week.

From a mobile perspective, I think I may already write CES 2009 off as an abysmal disappointment.

We've already seen the announcements from Motorola: An environmentally-conscious entry-level phone, a sort-of-cool touch phone for the Asian market, and a rugged push-to-talk phone for AT&T. Whoop-dee-doo.

I stopped by the Samsung booth this evening at the CES event, and was told, in no uncertain terms, that Samsung is not announcing any new mobile phones at the show.

HTC has told me the same. So has LG.

With so few phone announcements on tap, it looks like the phone manufacturers and their wireless network operator partners are going to ride their current line-ups for as long as possible. How long can the industry skate by without bringing any cool, new and innovative products to market? I would say not much more than a few months.

This year, Over-The-Air will be covering what does -- and what doesn't -- happen here in Vegas at CES 2009 with a highly critical eye.

Despite a few lackluster announcements, I am keeping my fingers crossed that the trade show picks up some momentum and we see something exciting by the time the week is out.

Also, I'll be tweeting like mad all week. Feel free to check out my uncensored and frank thoughts about what I see on the show floor at twitter.com/phonescooper.