Top 10 best and worst of CES
Highlights and lowlights from the 2012 show
Yet another edition of the Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone. And with 2012's conference in the books, it is time for V3 to take a look at what made the show great and what made us long to be on the plane back home.
This year, we saw a packed house at the conference, giving hope for an industry resurgence and the return of strong financials. Microsoft's farewell address was earmarked by the emergence of Intel, while Nvidia and Sony made strong pitches of their own.
On the other hand, the lack of real progress and innovation gave reason to question the direction many of the largest firms in the business are taking.
Best of CES
1. Healthy crowds return
In recent years, attendance at CES had been dwindling. With the economy in turmoil, many people didn't have the money or interest in attending the show. This lead to a noticeable drop in attendance and trepidation among vendors and exhibitors.
This year, however, the crowds were back. Along with the usual throngs of press and bloggers, there was no shortage of buyers and general expo attendees. In total, the CEA estimated that 150,000 people attended this year's conference.
While the larger attendance may have added onto the already long lines and packed venues, it is also an indication that interest and, perhaps, investment in PCs and consumer electronics is picking up again.
2. The stars were out
High-profile celebrities were out in force this year, proving that the show is still a major draw.
Justin Timberlake, part-owner of MySpace, was on stage to unveil a partnership with Panasonic as he continues to try and revive the ailing social network.
50 Cent stopped by to promote his own range of wireless headphones made by SMS Audio, as he looks to emulate the success Dr. Dre had with Beats Audio. Even teenage heart-throb Justin Bieber showed up to unveil the mRobo Ultra Bass, a dancing robot that plays music.
Top 10 best and worst of CES
Highlights and lowlights from the 2012 show
3. Nvidia wants to put Tegra 3 in everything
We already knew that the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core would be making an appearance in the Asus Transformer Prime, but that is not the only device that will be packing the chip.
Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia announced that the quad-core chip will be squeezed into a 7in Asus tablet and retail at an impressive $249. German car maker Audi also revealed that its fleet would incorporate the Tegra 3 helping to provide photo-realistic 3D graphics.
It looks like 2012 is going to be the year of the quad-core and a bumper year for Nvidia. In fact, the chipmaker was pushing the processor so much, we half expected it to unveil a quad-core-powered kettle.
4. Tablet and smartphone ranks grow
A healthy market is always a good thing. When there is ample competition, vendors push each other in both cost and features, while consumers end up with better products. This year, the tablet and smartphone markets expanded considerably.
First, Nokia unveiled the Lumia 900 for the US market. The handset adds to the company's Windows Phone lineup and builds on Nokia's strategy for localised devices in each of the major markets.
Later in the week, Lenovo pitched a handset of its own with the K800. The smartphone will be the first to rely on Intel's Atom processor. Motorola is also planning to opt for the Intel chip in its upcoming designs.
New entries also dotted the tablet landscape, including the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Asus 7in Tegra tablet as well as Sony's dual-screen Tablet P.
5. Intel wins the day with big announcements
Intel chief executive Paul Otellini showed Microsoft how to deliver a keynote when he took the stage on day two of CES and unveiled a raft of exciting products and partnerships.
Everyone was expecting Intel to finally announce that it would be entering the smartphone market and the company didn't disappoint. At the top of the list was the announcement that Lenovo would launch the K800 smartphone, the first to incorporate an Intel Atom Medfield chip.
The chip manufacturer also gave an extended demo of its ‘reference smartphone', which impressed the crowd. Features such as HDMI video playback and the ability to capture 15 photos in less than a second went down particularly well with those in attendance.
Motorola chief Sanjay Jha even turned up to confirm that the manufacturer had signed a multi-device deal with Intel. Dell took the opportunity to join the party and launch its first ultrabook in the form of the XPS 13.
The keynote was a major statement of intention from Intel and with this being Microsoft's last year at CES, it looks like the chip maker will be the top dog at the show from now on.
Top 10 best and worst of CES
Highlights and lowlights from the 2012 show
Worst of CES
1. Apple is left to steal the headlines
One problem CES has had in recent years is that the timing of the show usually falls about two to three weeks before Apple likes to announce its big iOS releases. Even when CES turns up some impressive products and demos, the show can be forgotten when just a few days later Apple unveils the next iPhone or iPad.
This year, there wasn't much in the way of industry-shaking news from CES. Many of the models displayed were either incremental updates or products which had already been announced in other markets.
Apple has an event scheduled for later this month, which is said to focus on the educational market. While the news is widely believed to entail the addition of textbooks to the iBooks service, the company could sneak in a 'one more thing' in the form of another iPad model or price cut.
Not earth-shaking news by Apple standards, but it could still be enough to take what little wind was put in the sales of competing tablets showcased at CES.
2. CES is too big for one show
The increased attendance this year highlighted the biggest problem with CES; it is too large for its own good.
While the show once fancied itself as the single place to see all the top electronics brands, it has now become a massive affair that is too large for one person, or even a small group, to take in.
The advantage of getting everyone together at the same time has been outweighed by the huge crowds and massive expanse of exhibits and more time is lost waiting in lines and pushing through the show floor than is saved by getting different markets and industries together.
The benefit of not having to send product buyers on two trips is understandable, but is it really worth it if they have to wade through huge crowds and bypass hundreds of stands for products they don't care about?
Perhaps it's time to split up the show again. Separate conferences for the PC/mobile and home electronics spaces would still fill up the Las Vegas Convention Center without completely overwhelming the city.
Top 10 best and worst of CES
Highlights and lowlights from the 2012 show
3. More of the same from 3D TV
The rollout of 3D has become a huge deal for the home electronics space. Not only can vendors such as Sony convince users to dump their relatively new HDTV sets for something else, but they can also make a fortune from the sale of both home and professional 3D cameras. So it's understandable that 3D TV would get a huge marketing push.
But this year there just wasn't much to sell. Some of the sets got a bit larger and the ubiquitous showpiece ultra-thin OLED sets got plenty of hype, of course, but there wasn't much real news or advancement in the 3D TV technology to get excited about.
The holy grail of 3D will, of course, be the advent of glasses-free technology and, while that has been shown in mobile devices and notebooks, that may take some time to reach the TV market and work with multiple viewers. It is understandable that companies will want to market there products, but can we try and keep a lid on the hype?
4. Ultrabook vendors do little to distinguish themselves
It is no secret that the ultrabook campaign is Intel's baby. The company has gone out of its way to display the thin, powerful notebook class at every chance it gets, even going so far as to get a copyright on the word 'ultrabook'.
But you have to wonder just how interested the PC vendors themselves are in the effort. Surely they want to make smaller and lighter systems, but being constrained to Intel's strict definition of the category seems to have handcuffed designers and engineers. The various ultrabook models showcased at the event looked very much the same; either thin clamsheels or convertible tablet designs.
I suspect that most of the ultrabook pitch is coming from Intel and the PC vendors themselves are less interested in moving the category than they are the generous financial benefits Intel no doubt provides those who participate in the program.
If Intel truly wants PC vendors to build better notebooks, it need to wind down the ultrabook marketing push. We are now all aware of the benefits of Sandy Bridge and its potential for shrinking case designs, but PC vendors want to design better notebooks on their own terms, not just those that meet Intel's 'ultrabook' specifications.
Top 10 best and worst of CES
Highlights and lowlights from the 2012 show
5. Microsoft goes out with a fizzle in its final keynote
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive, had the honour of giving the opening keynote at CES for the fifteenth consecutive year. This should have been a monumental moment as it was widely known that this year would be Microsoft's last at CES.
Attendees were queuing more than two hours before the start of the keynote to ensure they could get a seat inside. Everyone expected Ballmer to go out with a bang, but were left sorely disappointed by the snooze fest that was on stage.
Ryan Seacrest, of American Idol fame, was rolled out on stage to carry out a mock interview with Ballmer. The Microsoft chief might as well have phoned in the keynote, it was that uneventful. Occasionally, Ballmer teased the audience - he pulled out a Lumia 900, announced the Windows Store and that Kinect would be coming to the PC. But these were only mentioned in passing.
Just when you though something exciting was coming, Microsoft would show us something we have already seen. The Windows Phone demo was carried out for what seemed like the hundredth time on stage.
Partway through the keynote Microsoft rolled out a ‘Twitter choir', to sing tweets from audience members. Of course, they were only given positive tweets to work with, but the whole performance was completely unnecessary and a shameless way to kill time.
It might be that Microsoft, still stinging from past on-stage demo failures wanted to play it safe, but they did so at the cost of putting much of the audience to sleep with one of the most boring CES openers in recent memory.
Ballmer had a chance to leave CES with a bang, by the opportunity was wasted. Thankfully, Intel stepped up and, based on this year's performance, the chip maker should be given top billing from now on.