In the previous post, I shared my expectations as to what I think will be (or will not be) dominating the CES 2012. Now, on my way from CES (literally – I’m typing this on the plane using the device which I do consider revolutionary – iPad, as it started it all), I’m trying to summarize the impressions of grueling two days (note to self – next time bring an odometer – really curious how many miles we walked).
First, let me address my own predictions:
UltraBooks: yes, they were there – but not as a dominant theme, I would say. There were lots of them in the Intel pavilion, and they were beautifully displayed in the butterfly-like arrangements.
I think it will bring some life into the PC market, but I think the amount of “life” will simply depend on the price point -they will have to be cheap enough to create the momentum. Of course I would gladly trade my “workstation replacement” 10 lb monster for any of those beautiful butterflies, but I’m sure this will not happen without at least a small fight with my IT department.
Robots: there were a lot, in the different packages. There was VGo videoconferencing robot in the Verizon booth – I had a conversation with my friend Louise Olson who was inside that robot – well, I mean she was sitting in her office in New Hampshire, but she was able to move around and talk to the people as she was just there at CES.
Then there were whole bunch of “household” robots – floor cleaning, window cleaning, “bad smell hunting and eliminating” robots (hmmm, I wonder how those work) – lots of varieties from many companies. And then there were robots which can be programmed for, I guess, whatever – considering the fluency of movement, which resembles human (walking, jumping, rolling, dancing) – those robots should be great for research and education.
Natural interfaces: don’t think I did a good job specifically looking for those. Samsung TV with face recognition and gesture recognition looked very nice.
Samsung overall seems to be getting ready for next generation of living room applications by equipping their TVs with embedded camera – potential is endless.
I didn’t see, unfortunately, some of the companies which are powering Natural Interfaces revolution, such as Prime Sense, so you will have to look for more information on this subject in other CES reports.
Pads and Apps – of course, all kinds. It seems that “control” is shaping up as one of the functions of all the Pads and smartphones, there were simply too many present even to account for.
Of course CES 2012 report would be incomplete if we wouldn’t mention the latest Windows Phone:
It was available from a number of manufacturers – Samsung, Nokia, HTC all demonstrated a number of Windows Phone models. The interface looks interesting, but I wouldn’t call it a paradigm shift – different selection of icons and ability to smooth-scroll all of the icons instead of “flipping the page”. I didn’t have a chance to assess the actual performance of the Windows Phone, may be that would make a difference, but on the surface it is nothing but yet another smartphone. Of course Nokia had the biggest lineup of the Windows Phones, both in its own booth and in Microsoft booth:
As expected, 3D TVs and 3D content acquisition devices were presented in matter-of-factly way, rather than “OMG, look here”. A the same time, quality of LG 3D TV display was astonishing – of course the picture below can’t get you a real feel for what we were able to see, but when I say that I was dunking away from the ball which was coming straight to hit me on my face, you would have to take my word for it. But – despite the technological readiness, until lots of 3D content will arrive and will be requested by consumers, 3D TVs are destined to stay as a rarity.
And just talking about TVs, I can’t pass up the quality of the images – TVs came such a long way, and nowadays the thinness and image quality are nothing short of mind-boggling:
Now, let me tell you what was one of my major [positive] impressions. As you know, my major forte is a communication industry – wireless, wired, enterprise, service provider or consumer – what have you. As the world is rapidly become an all-IP place as far as communications are concerned, one of the toughest questions you can get, sitting on any panel at any technical conference, is: “what is the role of the service provider?”. For the most of the cases, the fear is that Service Provider is becoming just a “dumb pipe” provider. At CES 2012, I saw a glimpse of hope that in the all-IP world, Service Provider will be actually becoming a … Service Provider! Walking through Verizon booth, one could see lots and lots of innovative services, enabled by Verizon 4G network and put together by Verizon and its partners – video-interactive shopping experience enabling friends and family to take a active part over video even without them being present; remote healthcare applications, first responders and many others – plowed by and delivered by your service provider.
And last highlight – literally hitting the home turf – Biscotti, a “video-conferencing which you can take with you” (slogan is mine) – tiniest form-factor for the full-blown video codec which is easily situated on top of any TV and allows you to call either another Biscotti user or any GoogleTalk client on PC, iPhone, iPad, Android device etc.
I believe that very reasonable pricing ($199), absence of any subscriptions or service agreements and fees and simplicity of installation and use will make Biscotti a success.
Overall, it was a very strong event, showing present and future technologies at its best. Finishing this post on a very optimistic note, the future looks bright (especially looking at all sorts of TV screens), and it looks very interactive! And it’s coming to your house and your office, whether you want it or not…
