CES Unveiled New York was held by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), owners of CES, on November 9, 2017. It was (mostly) a media-only event with three goals.
First, the CTA wanted to let journalists know what was coming at next January’s CES 2018 in Las Vegas. Second, the CTA discussed five technology trends to watch and they said all five trends would be seen at CES. Finally, there was a mini-exposition featuring CTA Innovation Awards winners and other products to be shown at CES plus a cocktail reception, both aimed at drumming up enthusiasm among journalists to write about and attend CES 2018.
Gary Shapiro discussed the CTA and CES 2018 at CES Unveiled New York. (Credit: M. Brennesholtz)
Gary Shapiro, CTA President and CEO, discussed CES 2018 and the progress the CTA has made for its members in the past year. He said the CTA is currently lobbying for the Republican tax cut program in Congress. This isn’t surprising since the CTA is a trade organization of consumer technology corporations and estimates have shown the tax cuts in the Republican plan will go about 80% to corporations and their owners and about 20% to middle class individuals. According to Shapiro, this tax cut will foster innovation by consumer technology companies. Well, maybe, but there seems to be plenty of innovation in the CE industry even without the tax cuts.
New at CES 2018
Anyone who has attended CES in the past knows it is a huge event and it’s impossible for one person to see it all. That’s why Meko sends more than one person to CES to write about it for Display Daily, Large Display Monitor and Mobile Display Monitor.
Next year, however, it will be somewhat larger, with several new specialized areas. Three of new areas will be the Sports Zone, the dedicated Artificial Intelligence (AI) Marketplace and the Design & Source Marketplace. The Sports Zone will be at the Sands and, besides Shaquille O’Neal and other sports celebrities, will feature technology for sports. This technology will not only be things like personal fitness wearables but technology that will help coaches enhance entire teams.
The AI Marketplace will be in Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) South Hall 2 and feature not just consumer products using AI but also the latest innovations in AI infrastructure and computer systems. The Design & Source Marketplace will be outside on the LVCC South Plaza and feature vendors willing to help companies, especially start-up companies, with issues of product design, prototype and product sourcing, and creating product-to-market strategies.
This is not all the CES 2018 marketplaces and for a complete list, visit the Marketplace Web Page. One of the speakers at CES Unveiled pointed out that CES was more than the exhibits. It was also a major conference on consumer technology with over 1,000 speakers.
CTA’s Steve Koenig and Lesley Rohrbaugh tag-teamed a discussion of sales forecasts and trends for the upcoming holiday tech season. They emphasized that “Black Friday” has become a marketing term, not really a specific day anymore. It’s more like “Black November” now. The complete PowerPoint of their slide deck is on line. If you are critically concerned about the sales of technology products between now and Christmas, check it out.
CTS’s Steve Koenig (R) and Lesley Rohrbaugh (L) discuss “5 Technology Trends to Watch” at CES Unveiled New York. (Credit: M. Brennesholtz)
Five Tech Trends to Watch
Koenig and Rohrbaugh also discussed technology trends to watch for at CES 2018. As part of this discussion, the CTA distributed the book “5 Technology Trends to Watch” to attendees at CES Unveiled. The book is a supplement to the November/December issue of the CTA’s i3 It Is Innovation magazine. The five trends discussed by the speakers and elaborated in the book were:
- 5G Connectivity will Enable Smart Cities
- Cyber Security
- The Experience Economy
- The Future of Work
- Gen Z & Tech, AKA The Truth About Generation Z
These technology trends had several key ingredient technologies in common, including 5G, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics.
3G, 4G and 5G speeds compared (Credit: CTA)
According to the CTA, 5G communications is going to be a game changer, with the impact beginning in the 2019/2020 time frame. The impact from 5G comes from its speed: about 100x as fast as 4G systems. This speed enables not only better cell phone service, but new wireless applications in telecommunications; industry; automotive, including autonomous vehicles; health care, especially remote health care through things like streaming 8K video; and AR/VR where the high data rates will “revolutionize customer experience.”
Smart cities involves more than just 5G, it also relates to the Internet of Things (IoT), public transportation, smart and self driving cars, energy, utilities, health and public safety, artificial intelligence and data analytics (AKA Big Data). According to the CTA, all these technologies will be on exhibit at the CES and discussed in the conferences, making CES the one place to go for state-of-the-art information on all aspects of smart cities. The Smart Cities Marketplace for CES 2018 will be located at the Westgate.
Cyber security is (or should be) a no-brainer. All you need to do is read the morning paper (or, more commonly, your morning news feed on your smartphone) to see another example of where better cyber security is needed. There will be no specific cyber security marketplace at CES 2018, but we were told at CES Unveiled that cyber security will be an issue for virtually every speaker at every conference and for every exhibitor. Personally, I think this is a cop-out on the CTA’s part and the CTA and most other organizations and companies are paying lip-service to consumer cyber security. Unfortunately, this isn’t likely to change anytime soon when a company like Equifax can have a massive failure of cyber security through corporate carelessness and suffer no particular consequences.
The Experience Economy is, perhaps, a confusing concept. The CTA speakers did not make it clear why the CTA saw a difference between a consumer buying an “Experience” and a consumer buying “Goods & Services” and having a good (or bad) experience with the purchase. Perhaps a better name for this would have been The Gig Economy, since the concept is meant to include things like Uber ride-sharing and Airbnb house sharing. Cruise ships and Starbucks were described as “experiences” rather than vacations and coffee. Somehow, I never thought of going to Starbucks as an “immersive experience.”
CTA Market Research found 71% of companies found it difficult or somewhat difficult to find skilled workers while only 13% found it easy or somewhat easy. (Source:CTA)
The Future of Work technology trend relates to robots and other technologies that replace workers such as self-driving cars and trucks. The CTA believes there is a need for better science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to fill the jobs available now and in the future. Very few people will argue with that premise.
Gen Z is generally considered the population cohort in the US born in the 1995 – 2009 time frame and they are currently 8 – 22 years old. The “Gen Z & Tech” trend relates more to the Gen Z use of technology rather than their knowledge of how technology works. Personally, I don’t feel the ability to use Snapchat, Facebook or WhatsApp for up to 10 hours a day is a sign of a deep understanding of technology. Gen Z members are ardent users of this technology, even more ardent than their older siblings the Millennials, and companies selling into the consumer market must make products that appeal to Gen X in order to grow. I just wish more Gen X members would get a good STEM education so there will be skilled workers to supply the next generation of consumer technology.
CES Unveiled Exhibition
There was a small exhibition associated with CES Unveiled with about 24 exhibitors plus a display case highlighting a few of the products that won CES 2018 Innovation Awards. Several of these exhibitors and Innovation Awards winners were display-related and I have covered them in a seperate article, CES Unveiled: Technology Showcase (Subscription required). –Matthew Brennesholtz
