Here Comes the Giant Consumer Electronics Show

By Eddyson Lugangwa Posted 04 January 2007 @ 04:04 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

JOHANESBURG (IBTimes.com) - The annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)which commences on Sunday, January 7, in Las Vegas, with an address by Bill Gatesis expected to focus more on technologies that support current trends than on those that promise to break new ground for consumers.

User adoption of the so-called "connected" digital home and high-definition video didn't take off dramatically as some had predicted at last year's CES, so it will continue to be the focus at this year's show, which will be open to the public from Monday to Thursday of next week. About 150,000 attendees are expected.


CES will feature exhibits by industry heavyweights such as Microsoft, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as by some 2700 other companies large and small eager to showcase what they hope will be the killer app or top crowd-pleasing device of the coming year. IBM will have a large presence at the show for the first time in ten years.

For the first time ever, companies from Australia will attend CES, which draws participants from more than 135 countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. It is also the 40th anniversary of the show, and CES will mark the occasion with a special celebratory event on the first day of the show.

Keynoters

Microsoft chairman and cofounder Bill Gates, making his ninth annual appearance at CES, will kick off the show with a keynote speech on Sunday night. Among other things, Gates is expected to take the opportunity to promote Windows Vista, the latest version of Microsoft's operating system, which is due for release to consumers on January 30.

Other technology executives slated to give keynote speeches are Motorola chairman and CEO Ed Zander, Nokia president and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Dell founder and chairman Michael Dell; and Cisco Systems president and CEO John Chambers.


But large technology vendors aren't the only companies whose heads are scheduled to present keynote addresses this year. As the latest digital technology begins to merge with entertainment, media conglomerates are becoming key figures in consumer electronics. Because of this, Monday's appearances by Roger Iger, president and CEO of Walt Disney Corporation, and Tuesday's visit from Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS, should seem entirely appropriate to the CES audience.

Trends of Note

Among technology trends, storage once again promises to be a big topic at CES. A year ago, the companies behind HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc announced their plans for big launches: Players and movies would be released and would redefine the way people watch movies, they said. A year later, the two formats are indeed on the market but perhaps because of the format battle, relatively few consumers seem willing to invest in them. Look for cheaper players and recorders to be announced during the show, along with pronouncements that 2007 will be the breakthrough year for these systems.


On the desktop, the impending launch of Windows Vista means that several new technologies aimed at speeding up data reading and writing are on the horizon. Within the first quarter of 2007, drive makers should be releasing products that support the ReadyDrive system, and Microsoft will likely promote this technology as a major reason to upgrade to Vista. Also look for higher-capacity drives and for the continuing march of digital storage into consumer electronics products.

The connected home seems likely to get tongues wagging at the show, too. Though the idea of connecting televisions, computers, stereos, and mobile phones has been talked up as the next big thing for the past several years, the only consumers who have been able to achieve this unified communications system at home thus far are true technology enthusiasts.

Among industry heavyweights, Microsoft and Intel will likely continue to promote previously available technologies to support this trend. Microsoft has introduced features that previously were included in its Windows Media Center OS directly into Vista, making Vista a platform for marrying the television and the PC in the home, the company says. Intel, too, will promote its heretofore nonstarting Viiv package--technology designed to make a PC the hub of a digital entertainment system--as a way to make connecting various digital devices intended for home use less painful.

New Technologies

A number of new technologies and initiatives promise to help consumers create a connected home, and many of them will have a presence at CES.

For example, UWB (Ultra-Wideband) is a short-range broadband wireless standard that can link devices including televisions, computers, modems, stereos, set-top boxes, and even cell phones. But even though the last few CES conferences have included announcements about upcoming products based on the standard, no UWB offerings are yet available commercially. This year, following the maturing of the standard, leaders in the UWB market such as Alereon, Belkin, and Tzero Technologies may announce products that are likely to hit shelves soon.

UWB isn't the only networking technology fighting to take root in the home. It will compete in some cases against Wi-Fi and fiber optics as well as other emerging technologies such as powerline networking. Expect companies from each camp to tout the benefits of their technologies in the connected home.

This year, Cisco Systems, best know for its enterprise networking gear, may make a significant mark on CES. During his keynote on Tuesday, Chambers is likely to describe the company's latest forays into the consumer market. Cisco's recent acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta, combined with its Linksys division, allows the vendor to offer products to service providers that deliver content to homes as well as to consumers who want to receive and shift that content around the home.

Some of the alliances aiming to unify all developments in the connected home also plan to have a presence at CES. The Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), whose members include Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Sony, and others, offers a set of guidelines for hardware and software developers to ensure that their offerings interoperate in the connected home. The DLNA will showcase its work at CES.