This week in gEEk: CES slowdown; Call in the hazmat team; Jobs keeping his job

Welcome to This week in gEEk, EDN’s short review of the week’s happenings.

CES was the big news this week and the big news from the show was that there was no big news. Steve Ballmer kicked off the show Wednesday night and since then there have been some good product announcements, but no ground-breaking innovations or must-have gadgets that CES has become known for.

Traffic is also reportedly down at the show, in part because of the economic cloud of doom that is hanging over CES this year. Adding to that, the CEA projected 2009 consumer electronics sales will be down, marking the first time in recent history. The CEA noted some hope in digital TV sales, which are being encouraged by the February 17 transition. If Obama has his way, that transition will be delayed, however, and that could encumber sales.

Still, the slow traffic and gloom hasn’t kept the editors at EDN from reporting on overall CE trends. Check out the below from our consumer guru Brian Dipert, who’s in Sin City though the weekend reporting on the event:

Blu-ray’s continued struggles and the ramping ascendancy of online

The price of falling prices, and a path to Intel’s potential demise

When, if ever, will home servers shine?

HDDs’ inevitable impermanence and consumers’ frustrating nonchalance

Stay tuned to EDN’s CES 2009 Hot Topic page for continuing coverage of the show.

Meanwhile, life’s not all about CE this week. For some … many, actually … it’s about finding a new job. Lenovo announced plans to cut 2500 jobs; ON Semi said it will cut 1500 positions; and ASMI plans to trim 200 employees from its ranks.

Cadence made a hiring announcement this week, naming its new CEO. Lip-Bu Tan, member of the Cadence board, will take the position vacated by Mike Fister last year. EDN’s new EDA Graffiti blog compares Cadence’s appointment of Tan to GW Bush’s Dick Cheney VP pick, noting a number of number of conflicts of interest and a lack of EDA experience.

Steve Jobs said he will stay on as Apple’s CEO, despite a health issue that has caused significant weight loss for the exec. Jobs made his statement after rumors on his health sent Apple’s stock on a wild ride in late December. The whole episode has left some asking what will happen to the iPhone maker once Jobs does resign.

And what will happen to Apple’s product lines, like the iPhone? Any slip could quickly and severely impact the handset’s chip suppliers, including TriQuint. But we now know that TriQuint reacts well to emergency situations. After a worker accidentally mixed two chemicals together that created a highly toxic gas on Monday, hazmat circumstances arose at the company’s Oregon plant. TriQuint evacuated the building and all employees escaped unharmed.

Wall Street saw a warning from Intel issued this week as a dangerous situation in its own way. After the bellwether said Q4 sales will be down more than expected, 20% quarter over quarter, the Street panic and dropped the Dow, as well as many tech stock prices.

Meanwhile, panic ensued over in Europe, too, this week. The European Commission confirmed that it has conducted raids of several smart card chipmakers within its Member States. Reports stated Infineon, NXP, and STMicorelectronics were among the companies the EC suspected of possible cartel activity, including price fixing.

While Infineon and NXP did not return requests for comment, ST confirmed with EDN this morning that it was, indeed, one of the companies looked into as part of the EC’s unannounced inspections in October. "We believe that the investigation is still at a very early stage and are not aware of any complaint having followed the inspection," a rep for ST reminded. The EC also made a point of noting that, just because it inspected a company, does not mean that the company is guilty of anti-competitive behavior.

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