A Last Look At CES '12 Product Developments

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 1/30/2012

In last week’s issue of TWICE we highlighted the excitement surrounding International CES, with all the CEOs, celebrities, politicians and international visitors in attendances.

But the basis of all the activity and energy at the show are new product introductions, and the 2012 edition of CES was no different, and is the focus of this issue.

The developments in Ultrabooks and TVs were evolutionary, typical of many categories at the show.

For instance, in Ultrabooks there were plenty more SKUs introduced, with its main backer, Intel, providing details on how it plans to add touch and gesture controls and improved security, along with a marketing campaign to raise consumer awareness this spring.

In TV, setting aside all of the introductions of more sophisticated smart TVs and improvements in 3DTV (and there were plenty), several major manufacturers introduced more sophisticated displays that should hit the market later this year.

AMOLED TV technology was displayed by LG, Samsung and Sony, with Toshiba demonstrating its version but offering no plans for introduction.

The LG and Samsung AMOLED TVs were 55-inch products, while Sony showed what it called a 55-inch CrystalLED, billed as “the industry’s first 55-inch FullHD self-emitting display.”

The introductions indicate that major TV makers are still trying to create consumer excitement by pushing more sophisticated and advanced (read “profitable”) SKUs for a category that needs better margins.

If successful, that will be good news for them and for their retail partners. And those are not the only categories; there are many more examples.

Jerry Throgmartin, R.I.P.

Last Monday we received word Jerry Throgmartin, the longtime leader of hhgregg who began who began his career as a salesman 1975 and eventually became its executive chairman, died much too soon at 57.

Jerry took his grandfather’s chain, which was founded in 1955, and made it a multiregional CE, appliance and furniture powerhouse, eventually taking the company public.

Along with several of my TWICE colleagues, I got to know Jerry pretty well during our annual trips to the NATM Buying Corp. meetings when hhgregg was a member. (He eventually became the group’s president.) Jerry also graciously attended one of our annual TWICE Retail Roundtables that are held during International CES.

Jerry was a lifelong industry exec who seemingly knew everyone. With the media he was cautious — he always knew more than he ever wanted to say publicly about industry matters — yet when he did speak, he had something to say, and it was usually right on the money.

In his dealings with TWICE, and as you can read in the Talkbacks from the obituary we ran on our website last week, he was a gentleman and a valued industry leader.

Our condolences go to all of his family and friends, and to his colleagues at hhgregg and in the industry.