The CES post
All the business and technology publications are talking about likely trends that they see at CES, here is a more PR centric version:
- Many of the trends are fads: in the past we have been assailed by 3D television and interactive television to name but two past trends at CES. 3D televisions didn’t sell that well due to a combination of content and context. Only certain content like film works well in 3D, reality TV not so good. Interactive televisions have sold but their interactive features generally lie fallow – again context plays a major part, TV’s are about relaxing and escape not tuning in and interacting. For this reason I am currently skeptical about ultra-high definition TVs at least for the time being
- Cars are big: different car companies are touting their interactive features as a key part of their proposition now. Cars running Android and Windows are likely to spell problems for resale values in the future as these software platforms are generally designed with hardware lasting up to three years in mind rather than 10+ years of a car. This invasion of the automotive space is also likely to hurt RIM; given that it owns QNX a high-quality realtime operating system that has been used in cars for years (and will be the basis of BB10)
- Leaks are the norm: I don’t envy my technology PR colleagues now that gadgets frequently get poked, prodded and photographed well before launch – pretty much ruining the news before it happens. Thankfully at the moment the journalists keep showing up. Much of this seems to be down to the global supply chains used by manufacturers and there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution
- More noise, less sound: pity the small start-up who paid for a stand in the 1.9 million square feet of exhibition space at CES; there is ever more stuff to demand journalist attention and conversely less chance to get it unless you are big name
