Apple did not attend CES 2011, it never does. However its presences was certainly felt throughout the event, especially the popularity of the iPad. One way this was shown is by the number of third-party vendors selling various iPad related products. Out of the hundreds that were shown, there were a few that caught my eye and I thought were interesting.

The first was the Zaggmate which is an iPad case. The Zaggmate won the CES 2011 Innovation and Engineering Award in its category. It comes in two models, one which is just a case and the second is a case and keyboard. The case is made of aircraft-grade aluminium, that matches the iPad. It has high density padding which provides great drop protection. You can use the case as a stand, you can set the iPad at 10 different angles within the case, in both portrait and landscape mode (non-keyboard version only) , If you have the key board model the key board sits right inside the case and connects to the iPad through blue tooth. It has a flat base and only adds an 1/8 of inch to the iPad

The second iPad accessory is really for kids, but I still think it is cool, the Color Studio HD along with the Imarker. This accessory makes your iPad a special coloring book. The Crayola Color Studio can tell the difference the Imarker and the child’s finger. The Imarker interacts with the Color Studio HD live animated coloring book that moves and reacts as the child colors. It produces pictures, animations, music and sound effects. You can produce an unlimited number of coloring book pages. You can color them within the iPad or print them out from the iPad to color with a regular Crayola crayon. You can even share them through Facebook. The software can be updated at anytime allowing endless possibilities.

The final accessory that caught my eye was the iCad which started as an April fools joke on Thinkgeek It is an old-time arcade cabinet created using Mame which the iPad is slid into and connects to the system using Bluetooth. Thinkpad has partner with ION and Atari bring in a whole list of classic arcade games including Asteriod. It has a friendly API which allows any IOS developer to create an iCade compatible game. When I saw it being shown at CES I said I want that, it looks like fun.