Was what we saw and felt at CES2017, a glimpse of our future? Part I -MILLENNIALS REPORT

Hello, my name is Ryosuke Yoshitomi and I’m a member of McCANN MILLENNIALS.

From January 5–8 this year, I had a chance to visit the world’s largest electronics show, “CES 2017” in Las Vegas.

This is the first of a two-part series where I would like to share what I saw and felt at this grand event.

CONTENTS:

01 What is CES?
02 Trend at CES2017 from a personal perspective(in Part I)
03 Featured Products
04 Looking forward to CES2018

01 What is CES?

It was the 50th anniversary of CES, celebrated with various objects like this across the venue.

So those of you reading this article now, have you ever heard of CES?

Honestly speaking, I only learned what CES is on the day I was told about this trip to CES in December 2016. I had heard of CES in the past. I’ve seen (I think) some of my friends on Facebook and Twitter uploading their photos of their visit. But I had never taken much interest in learning more about it as I thought it had nothing to do with me.

But lo and behold, I landed in Las Vegas.

So please enjoy this report from a CES beginner.

It all started in NY. Twice-a-year event was condensed to an annual event which is the largest trade show in the world

Las Vegas is the home for CES but in fact, at its first show back in June 1967, nearly 50 years ago, the venue was in New York with only 14 company booths. In 2016, the scale was 1/278, under 3,900 businesses in 2016 which goes to show the dramatic change. By consolidating the event into one, it has truly become a show to focus.

The sheer scale of the venue is 2.74million square feet (fits about 5 Tokyo Domes!) So to walk around such a grand space was a feat in and itself.

Ads by not just the big manufacturers but also the start-ups!

Majority of the CES coverage in Japan to date focused on the new products in cars and domestic appliances.

However, there was an entire section with many start-ups to a space dedicated for ads (from 2015) which all go to show that this is not just an electronics show but an “innovation trade show.” This, to me, was what defined CES of this modern day.

02) CES2017 — Personal Trend

Although there were various coverage of the show in the media but allow me to introduce some of my personal favorites which I like to call “personal trends.”

1. Voice recognition technology from the king, Amazon Alexa

This was obviously a buzz word of the times so I was excited to see it live.

Though it is still not set to work with the Japanese language which is why Alexa has yet to take off in Japan, “Amazon Echo” which has Alexa is taking off explosively overseas, selling over 10million units to date.

*Alexa is a cloud-based AI with voice recognition function developed by Amazon. Users can do various customization by installing the ad-on, Skill. The open-source nature of Skill which allows businesses and customers to develop apps is one of the factors for its popularity.

LG refrigerator which garnered much attention being an ALEXA-abled product. User can speak to the fridge and it tells you what it has inside.

There were many other firms with voice-recognition technology and AI but Alexa was the undoubtedly the most widely used technology bar none (over 700 products at CES2017 carried ALEXA).

However, given this unrivaled popularity, it’s a matter of time that other businesses will be fast catching up, but who knows, Alexa may keep ahead of the game. Honestly, in 6 to 12 months, we most likely will see the players changing. This is, no doubt, a category to keep your eyes on.

2. Next-gen communication standard, 5G (and a connected world)

5G is the astonishingly fast-speed communication standard which Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, was talking about in his keynote speech this year. It allows for 10–100 times the speed of the current 4G/LTE environment which means you can download a 4K film in a mere 18 seconds! (the current technology will instantly take this over the monthly limit…)

Though the timeframe for a global adoption is expected to take 13 years, in 2030, but who knows when technology will take that leap. It may be that this will happen in the next couple of years…

The Intel booth grandly featured the word, “CONNECTED,” which is a stark reminder that a world that connects all kinds of things not just with smartphones but with various new technologies including 5G will be a reality.

3. Smart HOME and HEALTH made possible with IoT

Smart Home and Health Tech which has been a trend of recent were seen at various parts of the show.

LG, with their Alexa fridge, and other appliance manufacturers all claim that they will consolidate “various things in life into one.” Under Armour and other sports manufacturers state that they aim to incorporate IoT “to not just measure sports performance but offer a comprehensive package that allows for health maintenance,” which all point to this grand-scale “Smart inflation.”

So what is the correct way to differentiate in this madness?

Which technology to partner with? What kind of business schemes to develop?

Whether something is going to take off or stagnate will come down to the decisions made with such questions. How exciting just to think about this!

By the way, these IoT massage chairs(?) were a huge hit. We are all building up our fatigue.

So this was Part I. In the next part, I will talk about a more product-focused approach to talk more in line with the title, “CES and its path to the future?”

APPENDIX

・CES ： https://www.ces.tech/
・CES YouTube ：https://www.youtube.com/user/cesonthetube