I have just returned from a week at the CES show in Las Vegas. I think it was ReadWriteWeb who first caught my attention by saying this year's show would be a "me too" show--not much new! I agree. I did not see much in the way of breakthrough ideas. Much the same as last year, which I described in this post from a year ago.
Most popular attraction at the show was about eight helicopters flying around a booth, all controlled by tablets. Brookstone, among others, sell the helicopters.
Car manufacturers and their accessory providers took a huge amount of the space at the show. Connectivity in the car for devices was a big theme. Ho hum for me.
The show was tablet mania with everybody showing 7" tablets running Android. Almost nobody had any new thinking on tablets. Most companies focused on price and a few focused on better performance due to better specs. Starting to see licensed tablets, such as Hello Kitty, Flintstones, etc. Seeing some evidence that people are giving up their iPads for Android devices. Better integration with Google, longer battery life, ease of sharing and flexibility in storage/backup might be the reasons. Also, Apple has done nothing noteworthy in the last iPad or mini-iPad release.
Two statistics caught my attention:
- From my friend Michele Borba (@micheleborba), 37% of 2-4 year olds in the U.S. have used a tablet
- Children are giving up physical toys (e.g. blocks) at an earlier age due to tablet usage
Implications for the U.S. school system are noteworthy. Maybe schools will have a BYOD policy for kindergarten.
