Impressions of CES 2011
Posted by Dan Buczaczer | January 10, 2011
Over the course of this week, a few Denuologists will be posting their impressions from CES. Here is the first with more to follow:
Last week was my first time at CES and now I understand why Apple doesn’t show up here. Don’t get me wrong: the inexorable onward march of technology is impressive. Incremental gains are being made every year in processing power, graphic quality, and size. But put it all together under a single convention center roof and much of it just feels desperate; companies urgently trying to get your attention to tout the fact that the 2 inch paper-thin display from last year is now down to 1.2 inches. The 3DTV displays go on for miles, showing you what every form of content looks like in 3D (Documentaries! Cooking shows!). Most of the booths seemed to have an implicit sign hanging over them reading “WE NEED YOUR MONEY”. It reminded me that for every breakthrough we embrace, whether it be CDs, HDTV, or MP3 players, there is a pile of innovations where the public collectively shrugged its shoulders (Laserdisc anyone?).
Maybe it’s just the fact that this year’s show is filled with tablets, smartphones and TVs preloaded with apps but the presence that clearly lords over this event is that company in Cupertino . And the fact that they aren’t here seems to say “We’ll announce the next big thing when it’s time and no sooner”. Of course that’s at least as much marketing wizardry as it is truth and it doesn’t always hold up (Ping anyone?). But the net effect still tends to reinforce the image that Steve Jobs is hiding behind a curtain somewhere smiling and waiting for the noise to die down so he can get back to the real business of changing the world.
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Amen,brother! The seething desperation is beginning to mimic Vegas itself. At least when it was in downtown L.A., you could get a decent taco afterward.
You don’t think a fridge you can tweet from will change the world?
Perfect words Dan, and just adding more spice on you line of thinking, they were almost everywhere with other companies developing add ons for their products.
[...] given the levels of funding needed to breakthrough with new technology and often needing more money as fellow Denuologist Dan Buczaczer mentioned here . It seems to be a better bet for aspiring (and established) companies to ride the wave of something [...]