I am just getting caught up from all the notes captured and follow ups generated by my trip to #CES2020 earlier in the month. If my math is correct, this was my 25th CES show – in 28 years – but my first since 2017. It is simply the biggest – and most important – show in the tech industry and a must attend for anyone in it. Today, every company claims to be tech company, which is what the #CTA wants you think as well. The result is a show that is more diverse and bigger than ever. Having been to so many shows over the years offers the opportunity for reflection and analysis, so here’s a few random thoughts about this year’s event.
Do we really need that? As CES falls in between the western and lunar New Year’s holidays, it can be thought of as both a summary of what the prior year delivered and the potential that the coming trip around the sun holds for all of us in #consumertech. I never cease to be amazed by the breadth of products and ideas that are revealed at this Mecca of gadgetry. A feast for the senses, #innovation ranges visionary to wacky, from derivative to ho-hum, with a few ‘that’s clever!’ gems sprinkled in. I will keep my comments on specific products to a minimum – by now you’ve all heard, read, or seen plenty of stories about robot toilet paper delivery, Uber drones, nearly 300-inch 8k displays and sexual health technology. I’d like to focus more on the show itself.
You can’t see it all. In most show years past, I was chained to my employer’s booth or private suite where I hosted clients and customers, ran demos, and pitched to analysts and editors about the latest and greatest of what the company had to offer. There have been a few years like this where I was able to walk freely around the show with 175,000 of my closest friends to try and get a glimpse of whatever the ‘buzz’ of that year’s show was about. Ironically, in 3 full days at the show, I probably saw less in the way of meaningful demos that any previous year. Even in the early days of the show, you could not get to every booth or see every demo. But this year, in between many meetings, I spent more time walking from venue to venue, waiting in line for an Uber or sitting in traffic than I did on the show floor. With the show now covering ELEVEN different venues and ready to move into the soon-to-be unveiled #LVCC expansion, the biggest consumer – at least in square footage, giveaways and printed marketing collateral – may be the show itself.
Where are they now? In the old days, CES was easy to navigate – not just because it was smaller, but because it was more organized. As recently as 5 years ago, auto tech was in the north hall of LVCC, displays and home entertainment in the central, chips and core components in the south hall along with some emerging/fringe tech, while the Asia dominated #ODM community was relegated to the hallways connecting the Westgate hotel (fka LVH / Las Vegas Hilton), and smart homes and digital health were in the Sands. No more. There is so much overlap between company offerings and messaging that you can find almost any kind of technology or product category in any venue. This presents a challenge if you are focused on one vertical and are trying to cover all of it.
Winners and losers. During my roughly 5 hours of actual time on the show floor, a few items really stood out to me: Tops on the list was the #AARP Innovation booth; it is nice to see the organization being proactive in developing and investing in practical solutions for those in the 50+ crowd. (Perhaps I’m a bit biased since I’m well anchored in that demographic.) The Digital Health area of the Sands Expo was impressive overall – the industry has grown far beyond fitness trackers and now includes FDA approved, connected diagnostic equipment and medical implants that are focused on meaningful quality of life improvements for patients of all ages.
The smart home offerings have ‘jumped the shark’. Everything is ‘connected’ or ‘IoT-enabled’, be it a $9,000 toilet or a bedside alarm clock that includes disposable aromatherapy oil cartridges designed to gently stir you from slumber to the smell of fresh lavender. (It never ceases to amaze me that hardware companies strive enviously to create a subscription or services model by offering products that are not market validated – if you’re going to wake me with aroma oils, it better be ‘bacon and eggs’ or Belgian waffles!) The major brands and ODMs alike now offer a plethora of connected anything and Alexa/Google voice controlled everything from door locks to cameras to coffee makers and larger appliances. Whether this is because there is real market demand for so many solutions or the ODMs are hoping to ride the wave is a question for another blog post.
Even less impressive was the overuse of the #AI moniker. Every company looking for higher valuation or investment seems to have found a way to weave artificial intelligence into their product features, but few could explain or quantify the benefits of this capability versus the non-AI version of their product from last year. Speaking of investment, another disappointment for me was the Eureka Park area where start-ups showcase innovation. While I saw a handful of interesting concepts and early stage products, I saw just as many solutions looking for problems. The ratio of innovation to hype has gone down significantly in the last 3 years.
You can’t miss being there. Despite the immense size and inefficiency of logistics, CES is the must attend event for those in the tech industry. As always, the best in innovation and business takes place in the private suites as opposed to the show floor. I had many good meetings – some scheduled and some impromptu – with colleague, clients, and prospects. Despite high travel costs and usual overpriced everything found during trade shows, the return on investment for quality meetings, intelligence gathering, and networking can’t be topped. I left this year’s show both fatigued and fulfilled. I’ll undoubtedly be back again to navigate #CES2021.