Much Ado About Nothing at CES

It’s a new year and a new CES...or is it?

For the uninitiated, the Consumer Electronics Show, known simply as "CES" by all techies, is the Disneyland, Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, Valhalla, Nirvana of tech. You get my drift - CES is the first big event of an overstuffed tech calendar (more on that later) jam packed with interesting, sometimes bizarre gadgets.

And everyone who is anyone attends CES - heck, amidst the US government shutdown, even the US Postal Service attended.

Side note - the USPS claims they were attending to show off their app and "Informed Delivery" system - IMHO a lackluster feature. Why?

Three simple reasons -

First, the technology claims to provide you the ability to digitally preview your mail…which it does but only about 1/3 by my count. So, what's the use if I can only see 1/3 of the mail coming my way?

Second, it's one dimensional - the image and the overall experience. There's no ability to scroll, flip, twirl - i.e. interact in any shape with the software. The photos are in grey scale. As someone of the Instagram generation, I find this woefully inadequate for my needs.

Third, privacy concerns. This should come as no surprise to anyone that when you invent a tool that passes along possible sensitive information like when credit cards are being sent through the mail, bank statements, it opens you up to hackers and scammers. See this article by CBS about concerns over Informed Delivery.

End side note…

Since its inception in 1967, CES has been the place where new gadgets are introduced to mainstream consumers with the hope of making it mainstream. Some examples include:

• Satellite Radio (2000)

• Microsoft Xbox (2001)

• Tablets, Netbooks and Android Devices (2010)

• Virtual Reality (2015)

Let's double click for a second on Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Back in 2015, VR and AR made their grand entrance at CES. Most left CES 2015 believing that AR/VR were going to tear up the tech scene.

And yet, it’s 2019 and none of these products have successfully made it mainstream. The CAT 5 hurricane dissipated into a Florida summer rain.

Two case in points -

Magic Leap

This was the company most hyped in 2018 to bring the AR revolution into the living room. I mean, they even recruited Shaq to film a testimonial about the then unreleased glasses for last year's CES.

Well, in August 2018, they released their Magic Leap One glasses to a lackluster response. These glasses were supposed to fly off the shelf until they did not and more closely resembled the Snapchat Spectacles.

Side Note - Lackluster was my own interpretation. I had the opportunity to try the glasses prior to release in 2018 and was vastly disappointed in the overall experience and clunky hardware (there are three pieces - the headset, the wearable computer and the handheld controller - it's not wireless).

However, do not write Magic Leap off - the company received seed funding from AT&T to specifically partner on their DIRECTV NOW product.

Osterhout Design Group (ODG)

Before Magic Leap, there was ODG which developed an AR pair of smartglasses called the R-7. Similar to Magic Leap, ODG was on a tear - introducing three product lines, signing deals with Porsche and exploring partnerships with the US military.

Like many startups, the company mismanaged funding and did not end up fulfilling orders. Currently, its assets (i.e. patents) await sale to pay back debt and employees that worked on partial salaries.

Which brings me to the crux of the matter...does CES matter anymore? CES no longer seems to be the barometer of tech. Instead it’s become a bloated conference of 4500 vendors who can only grab column space by relying upon the fantastical or absurd.

Excellent case in point are the $8k Kohler toilet with Alexa enabled voice command or the LG OLED 8K TV that folds or the belt that detects if my balance is off.

Then there is voice enabled products. It’s becoming readily apparent that Amazon and Google want to connect everything but is that what consumers want? See this amazing blog by Amazon that from their September 2018 Amazon Devices event where they introduced:

• Echo Wall Clock

• AmazonBasics Microwave

• Amazon Smart plug

• Amazon Wi-Fi Locker

• Echo Plus

• Echo Sub

Sure, a voice enabled microwave sounds intriguing but how many consumers will pull the trigger and fork over the money? (Further the direct to consumer market seems limited given the target demographic probably doesn’t purchase these type of gadgets.)

And let’s not even get in to privacy Pandora box. I pity the poor analyst that attempts to dissect patterns or likelihood of use based upon the sheer number of times I set the microwave to a 30 second blast only to open it with 1 second remaining or add 30 seconds. (For the record, sometimes I just hate hearing the beep.) Given heighten consumer anxiety over sharing personal data - like the Facebook quizzes I took to determine whether I’m a cat or dog person (For the record, I’m a cat person), it just seems ill thought out.

I tend to subscribe to the thoughts of many tech columnists like Kara Swisher, The Verge, Tech Crunch that just because you can, does it mean you should? Perhaps this is where the power of consumers come in - if they want it, they will purchase it and if not, then they fade into oblivion.

So, yes, I am disappointed in the overall showing at CES. Many of the key consumer issues remain unresolved such as:

1. Where’s the battery or charging solution to my Bluetooth or Smart Devices?

2. Do consumers really want to buy electronics on separate platforms? And increase the number of devices they currently manage? (This is a big pain point for me - I have difficulty managing the 5 different cords for my iPhone, Galaxy S8, Beats headphones, FitBit Versa and old school iPod Nano).

3. What is 5G? How will impact consumers? Their devices? Will it really be as disruptive as Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg and AT&T’s John Donovan profess? (That's a subject for another blog).

If CES is any indication of how 2019 will play out - it will be a year of preparation as wireless providers, handset makers and the other tech giants eagerly await for 5G and understand how consumer appetites change.

But before I pass judgement, let’s see what the next big tech shows in 1H19 sets up the year. And in case you did not have the dates - here they are!

Mobile World Congress - February 25-28, 2019

Google Cloud Next - April 9 - 11, 2019

Facebook Developer Conference - April 30 - May 1, 2019

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference - June 4-8, 2019

In the meantime, interested in learning more about some of the products at CES? See the links below...

Kohler Numi 2.0 Lavatory

Smart Belt (Welt)

SomaInnofit

Bocco Emo

Until next time!