Center stage at CES this year was a deeper underlying trend in product development we’ll call "D-2." We borrowed this term from Kodak who used the word to describe the desire for consumers to go beyond the "technology" in transitioning from analog to digital picture taking and digital storage, to "viewing and enjoyment." Extending on the concept, D-2 can include all types of consumer electronic product categories now moving in the pursuit of enjoyment and characterized by simplicity and ease of use.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor

Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of examples of D-1 execution out there as manufacturers focus on technology, speeds and feeds and feature sets. This is all in the pursuit of getting cutting-edge (or as Microsoft likes to say: "best of breed" technology) in the hands of early adopter consumers. It’s the, "we built it because we can" attitude that leads to a lot of new products, or "solutions looking for problems to solve" mentality.

Apple already has a D-2 philosophy. Many of its products serves as a good example of what can happen when management focuses on customer experience over technology and what’s under the hood.

The trend is growing and at CES we saw many examples of manufacturers’ D-2 focus. At the Panasonic press conference, and follow-up keynote by Chairman Shiro Kitajima, the company introduced the concept of "Living in HD" and spoke of the unintended consequence of bringing families back together in to a contiguous unit.

They went so far as to shower a bonanza of cutting-edge electronic devices on a few target families. Goodies such as a 50-inch Plasma TV, HD camcorder, digital cameras and Blu-ray HD players were given to these families. Then, Panasonic followed them around, creating a Reality-TV style video that made its debut at CES. Kitajima spoke of the "unintended consequence" of all this technology in bringing the family back together under the "Digital Hearth", enjoying life and each other as a result of "living in HD." To Panasonic, the large screen Plasma TV emerges as the new digital-age hearth and the centerpiece that gathers the family together.

OK, this "digital hearth" may be pushing it a bit, but there are countless other examples of this D-2 theme stressing "simplicity," "ease of use" and "diminishing the importance of the technology over usability" at CES.

At booths like Kodak and HP, the companies are working on getting images out of the camera or digital storage - and into a printer, or digital picture frame without the use of a computer. In the past, the focus was on plugging in an SD card, but Kodak showed some remarkable wireless products with e-mail software and a very intuitive UI that allows e-mailed pictures to display directly on a next-generation picture frame.

Both Sony and Panasonic showed a new near field communications (NFC) technology that allows for simple placement of a camcorder or other hand held device on a pad, that wirelessly transmits the content directly to a display (or anywhere else you say). At the Sony press conference, the company showed wireless HD streaming of a video feed, using this technology. "Look Ma, no wires, or pesky menu interface."

The UI concept went a step closer to "Minority Report’s" futuristic interface at CES as well. Camera-based gesture recognition software powered by new chip sets from Analog Devices, Toshiba, JVC, and others, allow users to interface with CE components including TVs without the remote. A simple clap or wave of the hand can turn the set on/off or up/down the volume.

Look for a comprehensive report on this growing D-2 trend in both our subscription-based newsletters with the first, Mobile Display Report, to publish tomorrow. Shameless self-promotion-yes, but hey, we all have to eat.

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