Fuck Me? No, Fuck You ⇥

M.G. Siegler:

A subsequent report by Barb Darrow for GigaOm suggest that this move wasn’t about Microsoft thinking about their own timing (as Shaw clearly states) as much as it’s about Microsoft being snubbed by CES and them saying “fuck you” in return.

I think this works out best for both parties, but at this point it’s unclear who exactly pulled the trigger. My guess is that Microsoft had long been contemplating pulling out of CES, and the Consumer Electronics Association had long been thinking of removing them. Here’s the clincher:

Shaw wrote (and reiterates in the tweet) that it was Microsoft’s decision: “we have decided that this coming January will be our last keynote presentation and booth at CES.” But CES directly refutes this to NYT: “In an interview, Jason Oxman, senior vice president of industry affairs at the group, said it invited companies to deliver keynote speeches at the convention, not the other way around.”

Siegler interprets this as Microsoft being snubbed. The way I read it, however, is that Microsoft wouldn’t agree to another keynote if asked.