“On the heels of announcing its plans to bail on Macworld Expo next year, Apple will be instead attending the more generic Consumer Electronics Show in 2010, according to sources familiar with the matter,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.

“Sources close to the company have indicated to AppleInsider that the move is a done deal, a remarkable turn of events given that CES has long been dominated by Microsoft’s product announcements issued in keynotes delivered by Bill Gates and now by CEO Steve Ballmer,” McLean reports.

“Over the last few years, Apple’s announcements at Macworld Expo have overshadowed Microsoft’s at CES, as the Cupertino powerhouse released blockbuster products such as the iPhone and climbed to dominate the digital media future of online music, video, and now mobile software sales in iTunes,” McLean reports. “In contrast, Microsoft has announced a string of products that either never materialized, were grossly impractical, or have sold poorly and received bad reviews, from Spot watches to Mira terminals to Windows Vista to Windows Home Server to the Surface to Zune.”

“CES officials were said to have informed some exhibitors about the matter before the start of this year’s show, indicating that next year’s CES will have a section reserved for Mac-oriented exhibitors,” McLean reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: It’s only natural that one of the leading CE innovators would want to have a major presence at a show where its products can be contrasted directly against what’s increasingly become a sea of knockoffs from imitators. A major Apple presence, to say nothing of a Steve Jobs keynote, would transform CES.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "James W." for the heads up.]