Wow, how do you sum up CES while it is still going on? Especially if it is the first time making the pilgrimage to the "holy" land of all things technological?
The good news was the concept of blogging from my Windows Mobile 6 device was good.
Even the pictures posted were taken with my Motorola Q9h, imported into TypePad Mobile, written and "published" with nothing more than a phone while I was standing in the middle of throngs of people. Try doing that with that ridiculous idea of the REDFLY.
'Course, many of you saw how the actual execution of that idea turned out as somewhere between concept and final product, something went incredibly awry.
But I do have an issue about CES.
Despite the vast number of companies at the show hawking all kinds of doo-dads and what-nots, there still is the sense of something missing.
Honestly, without the "Wow" of new products or announcements, CES is like being at a ginormous BestBuy or other big box electronic retailer. Sure, you get to fondle stuff you may have only read about on the net which is any techies dream, but like others are saying, there wasn't any standout products of software that created any kind of "buzz".
CES needs to have a "buzz". Just about everything from BlackBerry to Samsung was stuff you'd already seen and were probably well versed in the specs if you have been paying half attention.
All the good stuff? You know, the stuff that gets leaked all the time in the blogsphere? The PR and Show staff either faked ignorance or honestly didn't know. You couldn't even get good speculation.
I think CES should be the place to sell everything that is available but also talk up more about what is coming.
- Panasonic did a good job with their new HDTVs.
- TabletKiosk released a new UMPC as well as Asus and folks got to see the NoahPad and the HTC Shift even as the whole UMPC concept gets more confused with each new release.
- There were several private demos of Microsoft's Surface that seemed to have won over more converts.
But herein lies my point. Many of these we have already known were coming or were incremental upgrades to existing products, not anything worth getting worked up about.
CES should be worth getting worked up about. Manufacturers should have the press and bloggers streaming out of their respective press conferences and presentation writing enthusiastically about what is and what is coming. That's not happening.
- The new BlackBerry was nowhere to be seen.
- Bill Gates should have pulled back the veil on Windows Mobile 6.1 and Internet Explorer 8 since both of those seem on the cusp of being released during his final CES appearance. He didn't.
- With all of the companies represented from all over the world, it boggles the mind no one had anything that has gotten anyone excited about much of anything. We're doing our jobs of bringing you the news from the show, but there is no one fawning over anything.
As much as I would have loved to have been able to stay longer than one day, I would have been in my own private fantasy world (getting my inner geek on) as there was precious little to inform you, the Morning Paper readers, that would have been worth getting excited about.
Bummer.
Maybe next year.
Recent Comments