After a well attended Microsoft Keynote on Wednesday, the team here at CES attended the Sony Keynote presented by Sir Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony. Sony opened with Tom Hanks' humor that had us nearly rolling in the aisles. Sir Howard got the keynote back on track and focused on Sony's priorities. As with Microsoft, Sony's strategy confirms our own with connectivity everywhere and includes services based in the internet. In fact Sir Howard sighted these "7 strategies for the Consumer Electronics Business" as:

1. Seamless fusion of devices
2. Services based products
3. Multifunctional devices
4. Support open technologies
5. Social networking
6. Create new Value Chains
7. Go Green

It's pretty cool that these fit so well with our own. The most interesting for Ford (with input from Mark Fields, Derrick Kuzak and myself) were Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode displays, connectivity of all Sony products (PSP, Playstation, Phones, Cameras and TVs and services in the network for information, music, video and games). Sony continues to bring all their previously separate divisions together to offer new products and features for their customers.

It's an interesting note that the three "product" keynote speeches this year were from Microsoft, Sony and Ford. No coincidence that Ford is partnering with both Sony and Microsoft.

Alan Mulally, Mark Fields, Derrick Kuzak and our team spent the rest of the morning on a quick tour of a portion of the exhibit floor. We saw detailed demonstrations at Sony, Pioneer, Sharp, Panasonic and Microsoft. Unfortunately for our senior management, they only had a limited time to see the latest and greatest gadgets and technologies that will be in stores later this year. The EESE team is spending additional time on Friday exploring in greater depth the nearly1.7 million sq. ft. and 2,700 exhibitors. We're searching for technologies and potential partners to consider for future innovation.

Much of the afternoon was spent preparing for our own Keynote speech. Between media interviews and rehearsals there wasn't much more time to explore the nearly 120,000 new product introductions. Media coverage definitely seemed very supportive for Ford Motor Company. For example, one of our executives observed that 2 years ago, when we announced SYNC there were more questions around why is Ford at CES. Today, it's a different story and a different company. Our message is that we want to innovate faster and leverage the consumer electronics world. SYNC, Travel-Link etc. are good examples and we continue to demonstrate to the public that we are a different kind of company.

While preparing for the event we received some outstanding news. Ford SYNC was voted Editor's Choice by Popular Mechanics. This is the second year in a row that we have received this award!

As for the Ford Keynote, by the time you read this, I'm sure there will be Blogs, YouTube videos and a significant amount of media coverage. The feedback we received after our Keynote was all very positive. People were really impressed with our strategy, our plan and they recognize how we are differentiating ourselves. Congratulations to the entire team who worked endless hours preparing for this event. We are all very proud of this effort to show the world we're different.

The final event of the day was "Showstoppers" an event only for the media. Ford Motor Company was prominent in the center of the hall, displaying two vehicles surrounded by key partners including Microsoft, THX, Telenav, Airbiquity, Inrix, Macom, Gracenote and Sirius. This was an event for the media and I'm sure you'll see a lot of articles over the next few weeks as a result. Thanks again to the team for their efforts to support Showstoppers.