CES: The tech circus we need to see, feel and taste
The slot machines flash and ring just outside my gate at Las Vegas McCarran International Airport as I land at 8:30 in the morning. I head to the train to baggage claim, after passing people sipping beers with breakfast. Ultimately, I settle into the human snake creeping towards CES badging (yes, it sounds like I could have avoided that line by picking mine up at a hotel). Thanks to rideshares, long taxi lines at the airport are pretty much a thing of the past.
The Uber drive to the Luxor gives me a chance to remember why we go: because the Consumer Technology Association has successfully broadened the definition of consumer electronics such that almost everything is represented here and thus almost everyone has to be here. Maybe not with a show floor booth; perhaps with a suite for dealmaking instead, along with an appearance at Pepcom and a Venetian press conference, or maybe solo, with just with a backpack and a hotel room and a rubber-soled pair of shoes.
Because most of the year you can connect with colleagues and contacts in Silicon Valley easily enough but everyone else is scattered from Beijing to Boston and Berlin, and face time — not “Facetime” — still matters, even (especially) today.
What I ate: Fries and a milkshake at Shake Shack in “New York.” Good sandwiches and dessert in Seagate’s suite in “Venice” (thank you client). Lobster tacos at a reception in the Aria. Red snapper at Harvest at the Bellagio. Tasty cookie dough bites at the Dell Experience. No slices of pizza or hot dogs from food stands at the LVCC — because there’s no excuse for that.
What I saw: Scores of drones dancing like fireflies to Kygo’s Stargazing, concept cars with dazzling displays and cameras instead of mirrors, a world where your car syncs to your calendar so it knows just where to go when you turn it on, augmented reality displays of virtual reality game spaces, a quantum computing chip.
What I felt: An egg being crushed by my hand, but — thanks to haptics — no egg and no mess. Magical energy flowing from my hands as I cast sorcery spells like Harry Potter. The grip of a light saber as I slashed villains in Disney and Lenovo’s Jedi Challenge. Rain — pouring for hours.
What I accomplished: $40 on my team to win the big game, successfully navigating two client dinners in one night, a briefing on consumer digital transformation, and great discussions with a number of clients and prospects about brand-building, marketing ROI, newsjacking, press conferences and analyst relations.
Calling CES a trade show is like calling Feb. 4 a football game. Rather, it’s a pumped up celebration of the tech industry, casting what we love and hate about it in sharper relief. It’s ridiculous on some levels, yet in fact we usually end up getting out of it exactly what we hoped we would — what’s next, and how we can play a part.
Bring on the phone case drones and voice-controlled toilets and see you in 2019.
What’s Hot in the Desert:
Augmented reality: Was tops on social buzz after the first full day of the show but still an early trend
Virtual reality: Still — and still mostly in a gaming context. (see boxing above)
Voice assistants power the smart home: It’s now a real Google Assistant vs. Amazon Alexa battle
Self-driving cars: CES now trumps the Detroit Auto Show because it’s more about the tech than the horsepower
Robots: They’re getting adorbs — though it’s too early to know if there’s a market
What’s Cooling on the Strip:
The caveat is that cooling at CES is sometimes simply a sign of technology becoming more mainstream, as nobody’s actually buying what’s hot at the show.
Wearables: Plenty of smart watches on wrists of attendees, less visible in booths. Much less visible are the pure fitness wearables.
3D printing: Pretty mainstream for business now, while consumer market languishes
Drones: Because dji so owns the market — but an ecosystem of tech to support drones is building
Smartphones: It’s about the experiences more than the devices per se, plus Mobile World Congress is on the horizon
The lights: Cuz they’re not on.
