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Now that the Christmas holidays are over, we all look for something to keep us alive to get through the dark remainder of winter. Thankfully, CES 2008 comes at just the right time! For the lucky ones that join the party there is lots of opportunities for photos, touching the products, talking to the exhibitors. The rest of us have to rely on the web and online video. Nowadays there is so much competition between blogs to get the info out first, that a few mouse clicks can be a faster show tour than walking around the massive venue! Of course, what is missing is human interactivity, live remarks, a bit of spying, all the things that make a show great.

So what is the resume of such a huge event? The first remark is that it covers all consumer electronics sectors. It is not just mobile devices or just audio. It is all sectors! Individual devices have so many features packed in that a great way to enhance them further is to enhance their connectivity to other devices and the internet. As players need HD displays, mobile devices play video and receive TV and computers hope to get in our living rooms, events like CES become all the more important. This year is especially interesting, simply because lots of the product segments covered are in flux. Take a few examples:

• Warner’s decision to back Blu-Ray changed overnight everything in the HD disc format war. This important news was on purpose announced just before CES 2008, a sign of the fact that the show is a major point in time.
• A large number of companies is dying to get to consumers’ TV sets with streaming and downloading services. It is impossible for all those devices to survive but it is nevertheless an exciting new market.
• Devices pack in new ways to stay permanently connected to the internet but at the moment we have a consumer demand without an equivalent offer from the side of the providers. What is going to happen is a huge question mark as WiMax does not progress smoothly and legacy networks seem to block progress in most countries.
• The mobile device segment between mobile telephones and laptops is still up for grabs. Is it going to be smartphones, UMPCs or very light laptops? Nobody really knows.
• Every videocamera manufacturer is releasing an unbelievable quantity of new models. The reason? There is at the moment no dominant HD format and no dominant storage medium. Add to this the software required for editing and you got a huge problem. So every brand has to go for everything and whatever works!
• LCDs are at the moment dominant but newer generations with LED backlight and low response times are once again leading to new -very expensive- factory investment, new models and more changes in an already unsettled market. And those OLEDs look mighty impressive…
• Categories like robotics never made it to consumer shows. Well now they do and expect to see more of this stuff in depth of time.

Digital cameras is one of the few areas where we know -at least for now- what to expect.

It is Monday morning and there is already an avalanche of new releases. Very few models will be remembered as real steps forward in terms of design or features. Shows are a great way to test the water. There is light and music and friendly people everywhere. Among all this fanfare and noise what is crucial is the trends, the big picture. Most of the presented products will have insignificant market impact and a large number will try to move towards the direction of favorable market response. For those that do business it is more of a trial and error process. For consumers however diving in every new technology would be catastrophic. Therefore, it is best to look, touch and listen now but choose to buy later…