Final Reflections on CES 2007

Just a few observations after reflecting back on CES two weeks ago:

Most visible PDA in real use: Blackberry by far – every time I turned around somebody had their Blackberry out checking messages, etc. I swear one couple was messaging between each other via their respective Blackberries even though they were beside each other. Sure there were lots of other mobile phones stuck to people’s ears but Blackberry had by far the most visibility. And lots of Blackberry Pearls out there. I think the fact you have to hold it out to read the display has become a marketing feature. We were told at the Skype press conference that a third party would have to develop a Blackberry client for Skype.

Flat panel displays: walking through the main hall especially one becomes overwhelmed by the quantity of flat panel displays. Sharp, with its newly announced 108″ LCD at the base, had a “mountain” of their various sizes. Now if they all had a Skype voice and personal video channel for personal communication between remote TV sets. I was made aware of a Skype client that will allow one to make calls within the Windows Media shell in Windows Vista. (More to follow once Windows Vista is available.)

Memory keys are popping up in many form factors and have become the favored medium for handing out press collateral. The Trendnet device shown on the left includes a laser pointer, an LED flashlight and, of course, a pen in addition to the 512MB USB memory key. Unfortunately it was one of those that requires a reboot after it is installed on your PC — but still very handy (and it was one of the more practical handouts.). As an aside, Skype missed an opportunity to add the U3 version of Skype to its handout.

However, the major impressions and questions arising out of CES were:

1. Will the consumer world adopt to multi-media multi-function home entertainment installations that combine all your entertainment modes into one system: television, audio, radio, photography, video, even telephony. If so, it will take one highly ergonomically engineered remote — along the lines of Logitech’s Harmony series remotes — to simplify operation for the average consumer. Does every home need a SmartTouch PC running Windows Vista’s Media shell?
2. How will we handle our mobile/portable requirements? Can one device optimally converge our requirements for telephony, audio and video? Even though iPhone’s introduction at MacWorld stole Day 2 from CES, is it really that revolutionary or has it simplified operation of a converged mobile product? Can we really see an economic business model for mobile VoIP incorporating, say, Skype?
3. Certainly Skype is building a partner ecosystem, delivering hardware capable of seamlessly transitioning consumers from traditional PSTN telephony into VoIP telephony with its many additional “smart” features. But will consumers take up the technology when Skype is relying almost totally on viral marketing?

Bottom line question: Can the vendors bring simplicity to the complexity of technology?

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