electronics

At The CES: Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop

International CES

LAS VEGAS--As the International Consumer Electronics Show gets underway, it's possible the trade show could be co-opted by a company or two that don't bother to attend.

As the show began press previews on Wednesday, Apple was generating buzz from its long-rumored tablet computer, which The New York Times reported was likely to be announced later this month. Two years ago, Apple announced it would be launching the iPhone at about the same time as the CES show.

"The interesting thing is, Apple may do it again, those sons of guns," Andrew Eisner, director of content for consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo.com, tells Marketing Daily. "It will be interesting to see if they can pull it off."

Regardless of what news might come out of Cupertino, Calif., the 2010 CES will likely introduce several products that will pique people's interest. At the top of the list: 3-D television. Every television company, it seems, will have some entry in this burgeoning area.

advertisement

advertisement

"The success of 'Avatar' is going to carry over into television," Eisner says. "It's going to mean everyone will be buying new televisions and new DVD players and new cables."

Coupled with that, 2010 may be the year in which Internet-connected television finally breaks through. Companies such as D-Link/Boxee and Popbox were already displaying their wares -- which allow for Internet- and home-networked video to be displayed on televisions -- at a press preview event on Tuesday night. "Sooner or later, every television will be connected to the Internet," Eisner says.

Netbooks, which started their story in 2009, will also likely gain more prominence at this year's show as companies showcase faster chips that can handle more information. Also likely to make a big splash will be e-readers, which may finally be coming into their own. Sprint is using the trade show to introduce its new Skiff newsstand and reader, and others are likely to follow. "It's too bad Sony and Barnes & Noble (which makes the Nook) didn't come up with a Kindle killer before the holidays," Eisner says. "But maybe now they'll generate some buzz."

On the flip side, there may be a few products that have begun to lose their luster. MP3 players, for instance, are just not popular if they're not made by Apple, and digital cameras seem to have reached a saturation point, Eisner says. GPS systems, too, are likely to generate much less buzz as their territory is further encroached by cell phones and in-car systems like Ford's Sync. "It appears the day of the stand-alone GPS system has come and gone," he says.

 

Next story loading loading..