Greater than something, CES is an opportunity to plant a flag. Client electronics’ huge commerce present is strategically positioned inside the first week of the yr. All the vacation tech has been bought, opened and used or returned. It’s all a distant reminiscence for tech corporations trying to assert themselves as main innovators for the approaching yr.
CES is an enormous present. The 2020 present, which made it slightly below the wire forward of pandemic-related closures, performed host to 171,000 attendees, in accordance with present organizer, the Client Expertise Affiliation (CTA). For apparent causes, the figures dwindled in coming years, however 2023 discovered the present hitting a good 115,000.
Through the years, CES’s affect has waxed and waned. Previous to the pandemic, among the occasion’s largest exhibitors opted to comply with Apple’s lead, saving the most important bulletins for their very own occasions. As corporations had been compelled to launch digital occasions lately, that technique solidified for a lot of. In any case, if you happen to can entice sufficient curiosity to your personal standalone occasions, why trouble releasing information through the noisiest week of the yr?
Maybe surprisingly, that shift has been a blessing for the occasion in a single key means: It has opened the present as much as startups. You probably have a smaller, newer firm, exhibits like this are a chance to get your self in entrance of the most important journalists, distributors, producers, et al. in shopper electronics. As any startup who has pitched me will most likely inform you, it’s exhausting to face out in amongst the tons of of emails I obtain each day (LinkedIn, Twitter and Fb, too — however please don’t do that).
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JANUARY 5: CES, the world’s largest annual shopper expertise commerce present opens its door to guests on January 5, 2022 on the Las Vegas Conference Heart in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Picture by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Photos)
It’s a chance to share a bodily house with the particular person you’re pitching. That is particularly precious for {hardware} startups, who can current their product in particular person. Most of those corporations discover themselves at Eureka Park within the Venetian Expo (née Sands). That is the perfect a part of the present. It’s probably the most energetic, attention-grabbing and chaotic. I think a lot of the employees TechCrunch is sending would like to spend all week there. Sadly, I’ve a significant again drawback in the intervening time, so my time there will likely be minimal.
I’ve, nonetheless, already signed up for a bunch of suite conferences — that’s to say, resort room conferences in locations just like the Venetian. These are typically corporations that don’t have a ground exhibit. This may very well be resulting from a scarcity of sources or as a result of they’re exhibiting off some piece of expertise that isn’t prepared for the general public eye.
Usually due to the latter these are probably the most attention-grabbing briefings on the occasion. They’re out of the best way, so that you don’t need to stack up too many of those, but it surely’s good to have some conferences away from the chaotic din of the present ground.
Despite the aforementioned ongoing well being points, I’m really sort of trying ahead to this CES. That is completely one thing I can’t say yearly. However my optimism is two-fold. First, I imagine we’re heading into an enchanting second for shopper {hardware}. Provide chain points (and worldwide relations) have precipitated many to rethink how — and the place — they manufacture. A transfer towards a extra decentralized manufacturing panorama may remodel the trade in thrilling methods. Second — and relatedly — we just lately put out a name for CES startup pitches, and so far I’ve been impressed with each the range and high quality of the responses. I’m presently combing by way of a listing of greater than 200 startups.
We’re nonetheless a few week and a half out from the occasion, however attention-grabbing traits are starting to emerge. The primary must be apparent to anybody who follows the trade: generative AI. For greater than a decade, AI has turn into an trade buzzword to the purpose of successfully shedding all that means in product pitches. Issues are solely going to worsen from right here.
Picture Credit: Brian Heater
The explosion of LLMs has — understandably — captured the general public’s creativeness. After listening to about synthetic intelligence their total life, common individuals can now kind a textual content immediate in a dialogue field and immediately get a picture, video, quick story or music. Final month, Humane supplied the present commonplace for leveraging programs like ChatGPT for a shopper kind issue. No matter you consider the corporate or its product, there’s a motive it’s been so hyped.
Greater than something, 2024 goes to be the yr of generative AI claims for {hardware} merchandise. Some will likely be genuinely spectacular — I anticipate some wonderful GenAI-leveraging robotics breakthroughs over the approaching yr. Invariably, nonetheless, most of it is going to be advertising and marketing bullshit. It’s our job as reporters to find out which is which.
Talking of robotics (as I usually am), CES has been dipping its toes in these waters for just a few years now. After all, the overwhelming majority of merchandise on the occasion that qualify are successfully Roomba derivatives. Nothing in opposition to the robotic vacuums of the world, however these aren’t the breakthroughs we’ve been promised.
Picture Credit: Amazon
I anticipate extra corporations will likely be leaning into the automated processes they make the most of on the again finish. Partnerships are going to be an enormous factor — bulletins involving the piloting of various robotics programs like Agility’s Digit or Boston Dynamics’ Stretch. Who doesn’t need to showcase a robotic of their sales space?
TV will proceed to be a significant focus. Over the previous a number of years, LG has made the strategic determination to announce its greatest merchandise forward of CES. And why not? Late December/early January is a painfully gradual time of yr. So far, the corporate has launched a 98-inch (!) QNED LED and a gaming monitor with a 480Hz (!!) refresh charge.
As Kirsten can attest, an enormous a part of CES’s evolution over the previous few years has been its positioning as a significant automotive present. Given how tech is interwoven with the automotive trade, the transfer is smart. Final yr, the entire of the Las Vegas Conference Heart’s shiny new West Corridor was dedicated to mobility.
Automotive makers typically make an enormous splash on the occasion, together with corporations like Toyota and Hyundai, which personal TRI and Boston Dynamics, respectively. For its half, Honda has already introduced that it is going to be exhibiting off new EVs on the occasion.
Picture Credit: Sony
In recent times, massive smartphone bulletins are just about a non-starter for CES. The massive gamers have both once more shifted to their very own occasions or are maintaining their powder dry for Cellular World Congress in late February/early March.
Well being tech will proceed to be an enormous piece of the puzzle. We’re speaking sleep monitoring, blood glucose monitoring, blood stress — the types of stuff that had been relegated to skilled healthcare tools till pretty just lately. As soon as once more, Apple’s non-presence will likely be felt in a significant means, although this yr, Apple’s ongoing patent dispute with Masimo will forged a large shadow over the occasion. Relying on how issues form up, the wearables market may very well be on the verge of trying very completely different within the coming yr.
Talking of Apple, AR/VR was my spotlight from final yr’s occasion, having tried out new headsets from Meta, HTC, Sony and Magic Leap. With the Imaginative and prescient Professional probably arriving within the subsequent month or two, all eyes are going to be centered on blended actuality.
By no means one to draw back from the highlight, Nvidia appears to be like to be ramping up for some massive releases. AI will, after all, be the centerpiece. The corporate is rumored to be launching the RTX 4070 Tremendous and RTX 4080 Tremendous GPUs on the occasion.
CES runs January 9-12 in Las Vegas. The massive press days kick off two days prior, on the 7th. Bookmark our CES 2024 web page for the newest.
