Not much more than showing face, it seemed companies setup at CES 2012 to say ‘they are still here and relevant.‘ Take Kodak for example. Despite facing financial ruin, their sizable booth showed nothing more than what they sell at the moment. RIM followed suit with a large collection of what they sell now. Microsoft had more conceptual “things to come” exhibits than actual new innovations.
Although the major companies had nothing to truly wow anyone, it was with the smaller companies’ unveilings where the EXPO truly shined.
• PrimeSense showed off their Kinect competitor product, as tired booth girls danced away to interactive menus.
• AikenLabs had a 9 axis controller for a new way to interface with video games.
• The Leonardo lets people sculpt in 3D to accompany the ever growing 3D printer adoption.
• Surely DYNAMICS employees tried to get people excited about their multi-credit card, a swipable single card containing several other base credit cards.
• The cell phone that lasts 15 years from SpareOne.
• Company Spawn brings electromagnetic tracking into the physical board game world, sure to find their niche.
Walking the 1.83 million square feet of CES 2012 could not hide the overall trend from me, it was at every corner. Connecting to devices, interfacing, controlling in natural way seems to be the focus of as the processing power faded into the background. It only makes sense as devices like the iPhone has the apparent same performance as it did over 5 years ago.
Another trend was omnipresent; accessorizing and protecting one’s gadgets. With hundreds companies selling thousands of gadget add-ons and protective products, it was fairly apparent. Despite what these products do, it comes down to interfacing with the device itself. If it is only to customize it with stickers or a case that fits one’s personality.
Although many have unique ways of interfacing, it all felt like works in progress.
I believe it was Microsoft’s “things to come” exhibit is a telltale mark of what to expect next year. Like the Kinect integration with Windows and the PC/Tablet connectivity of Windows 8, a matured human-machine-interface. As every company continues to hone their devices, CES 2013 will show the future 2013 deserves, and beyond. It was a very lackluster farewell for Microsoft, who sold their floor space to never return to CES again. Lackluster, but poignant.
Cabe
CES fun fact:
• I walked over 220,000 steps, pedometer checked on the last day.
• Microsoft sold floor space to Hisense and Dish Network.
• Over 100,000 different iPhone cases, few think Android phones are worth considering despite Android’s market dominance.
• 20+ companies were selling new headphones, though none did anything different with the sound than any headphone set to date.
• 3 companies introduced a liquid application that would almost completely waterproof an electronic device.
• 99% percent of people are there to make a deal of some sort with a company.
• Total floor space was 1.83 million square feet.
• Many people snuck into the event.
Read more about some of the tech at CES 2012:
