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Ballad Of A Dim Man
January 14, 2008
Wall Street Journal columnist Lee Gomes missed CES. Oh, he was there, he just missed it. In his January 9 "Portals" column — which had to be written after only one day at the show — Mr. Gomes wrote:
"All the apparent excitement and energy of these mobs, though, can't hide the increasingly apparent fact that against all expectations, a show that's ostensibly dedicated to all that is dazzling and new in consumer electronics has managed to somehow become rather dull."
I think I speak for everyone who was at CES when I say:
Huh?
There ain't anything "increasingly apparent" about Mr. Gomes assertion, certainly no facts that support his CES "dull" assessment. Bloated, maybe. Overwhelming? Definitely. But CES dull? What show were you at?
With apologies to Bob Dylan, something is happening here but you don't know what it is, do you, Mister Gomes?
What is apparent is that Mr. Gomes missed tongues wagging in all the halls in the aftermath of Warner's HD DVD abandonment announcement, Sony's OLED and other fashion model-thin HDTVs from Hitachi, Pioneer and JVC (what, suddenly 4 inches is too fat for a TV?), Apple's looming presence despite their non-presence, the promise of Near Field Communications demonstrated at the Sands, Michael Douglas' announcement of hours upon hours of 1080p content via satellite from XStreamHD, the varying wireless HDMI alternatives, such as the varying PowerLine solutions and the FlyWire from Belkin.
If all this still seems dull to you, wait 'til next year, Mr. Gomes. Perhaps the biggest story Mr. Gomes missed at last week's show was mobile digital television.
In case you missed it as well, both LG and Samsung announced competing mobile DTV formats that are scheduled for competitive field tests later this year. The ATSC will make a final determination on what it calls the ATSC-Mobile/Handheld (ATSC-M/H) standard, picking either LG's or Samsung's system or perhaps playing best ball and combining the best attributes of both (engineers I spoke to note that there are more similarities than differences between the two). In either event, the plan is to approve ATSC H/M specifications in time for broadcasters to announce services and hardware makers to show products in a year from now.
How industry-altering is mobile DTV? Anyone knows that if you move an inch, analog portable TVs go from show to snow. But I rode the LG MPH demo bus all around Vegas and the perfect digital signal received on several screens and devices didn't burp once. After MobiTV, MediaFLO and movies on iTunes, Mobile DTV is the logical culmination of the current and growing obsession with portable video.
Not only will there be a variety of prepackaged mobile and car DTV devices, mobile DTV-capable cellphones and video iPod/iPhone attachments at CES 2009, but I predict a HUGE business in mobile DTV USB dongles that will turn any laptop or desktop PC into a digital TV. While we in the media will be spewing gigabytes of cynical hypertext on the coupon/decoder box debacle, retailers will be attacking any exhibitor selling mobile DTV anything.
In short, mobile DTV will be the single biggest boost to CE since the CD. Retailers, start your drooling now over what will be highly desirous digital accessories that could maintain mammoth margins for years to come.
Mobile DTV's potential and all the other front and back stories at CES were apparent to anyone who set sore feet on the show floor. Unless you put your eyes in your pocket and your nose on the ground, Mister Gomes.
Posted by Stewart Wolpin on January 14, 2008 | Comments (2)
