Less wow, more instant gratification at CES
From tiny music players that dance as they play tunes to smarter toothbrushes and curvy computer screens, U.S. consumers can count on being wowed by another year of cool digital gadgets in the coming year. But technology industry leaders attending the annual agenda-setting Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week say the focus of this year’s event has shifted to instant consumer gratification from visions of what might be.
Themes in 2008 included simplifying the way consumers shift their audio and video from TVs to pocket devices to cars. TVs now come as big as Panasonic’s 150-inch plasma screen but Pioneer, Sharp, Sony and Samsung showed they can also be ultra-thin. Many pundits attending CES bemoan the lack of surprises in an industry that finds it tougher to keep secrets when gadget-obsessed blogs leak many of the hottest product details months ahead of formal announcements. Attention now turns to next week’s Macworld, when Apple Chief Executive Steve may supply the magic missing from CES.
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