CES Bringing More Control and More Interfaces

In China, 2012 is the Year of the Dragon, but at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, 2012 bears a far catchier catchphrase: the Year of the Interface. At least that’s what Canada's CBC has dubbed it.

The New York Times' Gadgetwise tech blog sees ultrabooks taking over the show floor, along with car-related tech announcements (such as Ford's Silicon Valley lab news) aplenty — a convenient overlap with the North American International Auto Show (aka the Detroit Auto Show) taking over Cobo Hall in Motor City this week. The New York Times' big story this morning, however, dismissed CES as irrelevant, citing the pullout of Microsoft as sounding the death knell for the show.

Bitingly headlined, "A Tech Show Loses Clout as Industry Shifts," the Times commented:

Once again, the show is unlikely to be where any blockbuster products of 2012 are introduced. Many of the hottest new gadgets in recent years — including Apple’s iPad and iPhone, Microsoft’s Kinect and Amazon’s Kindle Fire — were first announced at other events, even though C.E.S. remains the world’s biggest consumer technology convention. This reflects the changing nature of the technology industry — particularly the fact that the most important developments in the electronics business are no longer coming from the makers of television sets and stereos that have been most closely identified with the show since it started in 1967.

That said, there will be products on show, whether they're earth-shattering or not, and tech industry observers and tech geeks alike will be paying close attention to news and trends at the show such as:

• More “super-thin and lightweight laptop computers” that mirror Apple’s Macbook Air, as Toshiba's wafer-thin new tablet.

• The return of organic light-emitting diode  televisions, which have been worked on to maintain their brightness.

• The continued evolution of 3D capability.

• Lower-priced tablets.

• Sound systems “that can stream media wireless around the user’s house.”

Convergence will be continue to be a big theme, with booths displaying the latest ideas for smart TVs that connect to the Internet as well as innovative television controls. “Anyone who has actually checked email on a television knows that’s not that great of an experience,” said Shawn Dubravac, chief economist at the Consumer Electronics Association, the group that organizes CES, to the CBC. “The next big push with connected TVs will be focusing on the interface.”

Sales of smart TVs grew to 30 percent of total shipments in North America, up 18 percent from the year before, CEA reports. That number is expected to go up to 50 percent this year, CBC reports. TVs that work by voice or hand-gesture control will be showcased at CES and sell to first adopters in the coming year. Dubravac points out that if these early editions are effective, they could be climbing the same ladder smart TVs are on now.

This year’s CES will also see the entry of a more than a hundred tech startups in its new “Eureka Park” area, while also saying goodbye to Microsoft, which will be showcasing the Windows 8 software that is scheduled to come out in February.

The departure of Microsoft will be a big loss for the massive show, as much as CEA president Gary Shapiro downplays it. “For most companies, the show is ill-timed for their fall releases,” commented California-based technology analyst Rob Enderle. “Microsoft has become the most visible canary in the coal mine.”

“It’s not the best place for product announcements,” said Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps to the New York Times. “You get lost in all the noise.” Instead, she added, brands like Apple and Amazon tend to hold their own product presentations where they can have a “captive audience all to themselves."