The Best of CES 2008

This year's CES definately showcased some cool new technology, here are some of my favorite highlights.

It was interesting that Apple announced their new eight core workstation during CES rather than waiting for MacWorld. This may have simply been to keep folks thinking about Apple during a week where most of us were overwhelmed with product announcements from others. Apple always likes to remind writers that they have something big too. But this new Apple system, while impressive, was no iPhone and the buzz this year for this week stayed with CES.

Are We Seeing the Beginning of the End for CES?

It was incredibly difficult to pick out the nuggets because there was so much stuff being announced that most probably either didn’t understand or care about them and I think this goes to show where CES is starting to fail. It’s my belief (which given the fact this thing gridlocks Los Vegas wasn’t hard to arrive at) that this show should be broken up a bit into more concise components because, right now, it feels like it is beginning to collapse under its own weight. An increasing number of key folks I know are starting to compare this to Comdex and that can’t be a good thing in the long term.

Microsoft’s Show Within a Show

This is really Microsoft’s biggest consumer show and they have a massive presence at CES. If Microsoft were to take their investment and move it to their own venue it would still eclipse most other shows of this type. They are mostly on the outside of the convention center and their booth is more like a national park in size. This is a showcase for Microsoft partners who are too numerous to mention and that often is where Apple often gains an advantage because Apple, being far more contained, can drive a much simpler message. Still, when Microsoft hits, they can own an entire ecosystem and that is what you see at CES. 

The first keynote (the part on Bill Gate’s last day, is really funny and worth watching) was Bill Gates and it was memorable because it was his last. It showcased, as is traditional, Microsoft’s ability to make fun of itself and I’ve often wondered why the firm doesn’t embrace that sense of humor more aggressively in its own marketing because it plays very well whenever they do it. In terms of offerings’ the interesting stuff had to do with what they were doing in the digital home to move content around. If AT&T is successful against Comcast, it looks like a lot of the reason will be because of Microsoft’s surprisingly good set top box platform. There was a lot of discussion behind the scenes about some telephone providers competing with cable companies subsidizing Xbox 360s making them one of their default set top box options. When this happens it will be a huge coup for both the provider and Microsoft.

For Navigation, MSN Direct (formally known as Spot and used in what still is my favorite watch) is the engine behind many of the wirelessly connected GPS devices at the show ranging from Alpine to Garmin with a connection cost of $50 a year; which is substantially less than what most other devices cost. Sync had its own tent and this was where you went if you wanted to see the Alpha Romeo Spider, which I have to admit is much better looking in person.

Surface (which has the best looking Microsoft interface ever) was again a big draw and it is now in the final production stages. You won’t see it in your home anytime soon but you should see it in bars and hotels by year-end. There must be a joke someplace in Apple putting a similar interface in a phone while Microsoft did a table. Still it is a stunning product that I want simply for the reason that I know I can’t have it.

Vista and the Home Media Server were both major foundation points for Microsoft’s message and I could see a little tension for which will be the core of the future of the digital home. Gaming has come a long way on Vista and they were showcasing a large number of hot new titles for that platform while talking about third party offerings that could turn a Media Server into a multi-tuner DVR.

Intel and AMD

These two companies are competing hard against each other this year and it is interesting that both took different approaches. AMD focused on showcasing their technology in natural settings where Intel made this a huge partner showcase mostly of their mobile offerings and had a lot of folks talking about their WiMax effort. 

This was arguably some of the best work that both firms have done at CES and both seemed to be getting a lot of traffic. What was interesting is that with the acquisition of ATI, CES seems to be more AMD’s show than Intel’s at the moment because ATI technology was demonstrated in TVs and cell phones currently in production while Intel’s, at least in consumer electronics, was mostly in future small form-factor “iPhone on steroids” like products. Consumer Electronics has always been an elusive goal for Intel who promised a stronger push in their CEO’s keynote later in the year. It is, I think kind of interesting that AMD got deeper into this market through their acquisition of ATI and has effectively leapfrogged Intel as a result, at least with regard to broad Consumer Electronics penetration.

Lenovo Coup

Speaking of Intel’s booth, Lenovo laptops were the most prominently demonstrated in this strategically located showcase, and they were damned sexy. Lenovo just entered the consumer space in North America and their products were not only a major portion of the Intel presence, they were a major portion of the Microsoft presence as well. This is good placement work and the products show very well in what is a segment saturated with good designs. This is an impressive start for this company which will bear watching through much of the rest of the year. 

Products That Stood Out

Several products stood out for me at the show. First was the Alienware wrap-around DLP monitor which had me drooling even before I saw it. Second was the Dell Crystal Display which once again showcased the “make Apple stuff look old” design goal their designers are working under. Third was the Samsung media extender TV  which had a removable upgradable module for the “media extender” part which would become obsolete long before the TV did. Fourth was the amazing Westinghouse wireless TV offerings, and finally the Samsung OLED TV prototypes which eclipsed Sony’s actual shipping units is just taking your breath away. 

Biggest Announcement: Warner’s Move to Blu-Ray

Right before the show Warner Brothers announced they would move to Blu-Ray exclusively which gives the Blu-Ray camp an almost insurmountable lead. They had to pick one side or the other, and PS3 sales (largely because Nintendo screwed up and couldn’t ramp up manufacturing) were strong and overcame the advantages HD-DVD had with lower cost stand alone players. Any one was better than both and while Warner likely got a big check from Sony, they likely would have gotten a big check from Toshiba had they gone the other way. They picked the one that looked to have the greatest consumer support at year end. They clearly signaled they were thinking of moving in this direction and Toshiba simply didn’t do what needed to be done to hold them. Now we wonder if it is too late, because, at the show, all we seemed to be talking about were downloads, up-converting DVD players, and set top boxes which suggests this still may have come too late. This clearly was a Pyrrhic victory for Sony. 

Most Interesting New Arrival: Neonode at CES

Neonode created what I thought  was the closest thing to a broad market iPhone-like product and they actually had a big presence for what is a small company at CES. I’m one of the few folks that have been able to use this product and its rather impressive because the Neonode folks actually beat Apple to market by over a year with a similar approach (putting a touch interface over a common OS kernel, in their case Windows CE) to Apple and because the product is vastly smaller, more robust, and in some ways more technologically advanced (the touch screen uses a unique and very advanced sensing technology). I don’t have room to cover what was a massive phone presence at CES but the emergence of a really interesting and unique phone vendor who seems to have an iPod Nano like product already I thought you would find interesting. 

Setting Up for MacWorld

From sexy new products in the PC category (particularly notebooks), to hot new monitors pushing the design envelope, to all the cell phones that I didn’t even have time to mention (you really have no idea how big this show really is unless you’ve been there), Apple has a much more difficult job standing out this year than last. They will have the advantage of simplicity, but the vendors at CES really did crank it up a big notch this year and Apple probably doesn’t have another iPhone to launch (though there is the possibility of an iPhone Nano ). Steve has been known to pull a rabbit out of his hat though, this year, he’ll need a big one.