In a move that echoes a similar move from Apple pulling out of Macworld, Microsoft has announced that 2012 will be the last year the Redmond based company will be participating in the trade show.

Citing a number of reasons that are similar to those offered by Apple, Microsoft is another major player from the computing industry to pull out of the trade show circuit. Such a move will undoubtedly be a big blow to CES, however as CES covers more than just computing it is unlikely to signal the end of the annual trade show.