CEA says Apple, Jobs not attending CES 2010 conference

Disproving most of what was suggested in an article from The Wall Street Journal, CEA officials have confirmed with various sources that the Mac maker is not signed up as an exhibitor for the January show.

Jason Oxman, senior Vice president of Industry Affairs for the CEA, told MacWorld that the show will feature the 25,000 square foot iLounge Pavilion to showcase Mac, iPhone and iPod products — but only from third party vendors.

This brings to an end months of speculation that Apple would make an appearance at CES. The Cupertino, Calif., based company has usually avoided attending CES, considered the world's definitive home electronics event, as Macworld Expo has often been running at or near the same timeframe. With Apple pulling out of Macworld Expo 2010, though, the company is no longer tied to that specific show, which led to rumors.

The author of the Journal piece, Ben Charny, was essentially called out by former Engadget editor Ryan Block today. Block and Charny were both at a dinner with CEA Chief Executive Gary Shapiro, and according to Block, Shapiro never even suggested Apple would appear at next year's CES. He called the article by Charny "specious and flatly wrong."

"Bottom line, though is that if Gary had even gotten remotely close to implying Apple would be at CES, this shoddily sourced piece by Charny wouldn't have been the earliest story with the scoop nearly 24 hours after the fact — laptops would been immediately out for reports filed from the dinner table," Block wrote.

The Journal later issued a correction for the story. The updated article reads: "The Consumer Electronics Association says that Apple has been invited to attend the convention. Apple declined to comment."

As for the prospect of Jobs keynoting CES, a CEA official confirmed that Jobs has not responded to Shapiro's invitation to speak at the event.