The saying goes that ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ – but what happened at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is no secret and will soon show up as devices and services in places ranging from our hands to our kitchen cupboards.
As an annual event, CES has evolved from highlighting the latest consumer entertainment products to becoming an industry blockbuster event where major new products are introduced and technology trends are set for the coming year.
And CES 2011 did not disappoint with everything on the show floor from cereal boxes that light up like mini billboards to showcasing the increasing connectivity of cars. Want to tweet from your TV? Make local dinner reservations from your car’s navigation system? Back-up all your photos, music and other media to the cloud? Check, check and check. You can see a good sampling of some of the best products from CES in cnet’s Best of CES Award coverage, including their winner – Motorola’s Xoom tablet.
While some may think CES is just about entertainment products for consumers, a key trend that was underscored at the show was the consumerization of IT. As people get used to using web services, tablets and smartphones at home, they expect similar access and devices at work. In fact, they expect their devices to seamlessly support both their personal and professional lives, such as using a tablet to review some sales figures one minute and the next to catch up on some Modern Family episodes.
This trend has been continuing for a while but CES brought it into sharp focus for 2011 – there is great content on the Web and a wide variety of devices and applications to access it. The key in the coming months is optimizing and accelerating the connection between the two of them for the ultimate online experience.
