Usually, we don’t post two news round-ups in one day, but we held off mentioning an important news item until we received confirmation. This one, we weren’t going to simply note it as an unconfirmed rumour. It’s fact: Microsoft has completely left the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 line-up.

Microsoft will, however, participate in the 2012 with both a booth and a keynote address, continuing the long-running history for a final year.

While the speeches and press releases stated that Microsoft and CES parted ways politely and on the friendliest of terms, an insider just noted that it was far from amicable. Microsoft was booted out of the show by the Consumer Electronics Association, the show’s annual organiser.

Official statements note that Microsoft bowed out of the keynote speech and packed its booth when keynote speech honours were denied. However, the source states,

“Microsoft didn’t pull out of the keynote: They were kicked out. Big difference.”

Whether the boot information is valid, we have no real idea, but the fact remains that Microsoft will be spending the January 2013 event schedule back home in Redmond, Wash.

The official CEA release reads:

“In the fourteen years that we have invited Microsoft to deliver a keynote address at CES, the company has unveiled some great innovations, from operating systems to gaming platforms to mobile technologies. Both CEA and Microsoft have agreed that the time has come to end this great run, and so Microsoft will not have a keynote at the 2013 CES.”

It’s also unclear exactly why Microsoft has left the roster. It could be that it’s recap – retrospective approach in prior speech presentations no longer suited the forward-looking event’s paradigm. It could be that someone forgot to contribute to the coffee fund on a quick refill (that was a joke, by the way). To paraphrase an old commercial,

“Only CEA and Microsoft know for sure.”

For now.