“HDTV.” —
Gary Shapiro
,
President/CEO,
Consumer Electronics Association
“Television has been, in all of its forms,
configurations and technologies. The television
is the “hub” to such dramatic consumer
lifestyle devises as home-theater
systems, DirecTV, DVD and Blu-ray players,
and blockbuster content like ‘Star Wars’
and ‘Forrest Gump’!” —
Jay Buchanan
,
Electronics Division Director, Nebraska Furniture Mart
“I believe the telecommunications category
was most important to the industry
since it was the foundation for so many
subcategories — facsimile, pagers, cellphones,
Internet, notebooks and now tablets.
Audio and video were the foundation
of CE, but telecommunications defined
new uses of audio and video.” —
Michael Troetti
, President,
Coby Electronics
“Believe it or not, the loudspeaker. With
the race to zero with all things electronic
and digital, more than any other product,
it is this lone bastion of profit that has
allowed many us who actually drive the
new technologies to survive and prosper.
It is like baseball. It is just always there.
Simple.” —
Robert A. Cole,
President, Bob & Ron’s World
Wide Stereo
“HDTV. And it’s not just TV, after all, its impact
has been far-reaching — it started the
revolution in broadband data transmission,
created affordable high-resolution
display technologies, propelled semiconductor
processing speeds and capacity
improvements, and exponentially boosted
the storage media and recorder/player designs and markets.”
—
Joseph M. Taylor
, Chairman/CEO, Panasonic
Corp. of North America
“While arguments can be made for the PC
and handheld phone, the HDTV/flat-panel
TV has truly changed the way content is
created, distributed and consumed, providing
a more immersive entertainment
experience at home.” —
Tim Baxter
, President/
CE division, Samsung Electronics
“Television has been the most important
category to the CE industry over the past
25 years.”
Marc Sculler
,
President, Bell’O International
“Home audio/video has seen the most
significant evolution and paradigm shifts
in the past 25 years. Analog to digital, tube
to panel, DVD to Blu-ray, SD to HD to 3D,
and most recently Internet-connected
products.” —
Michael Fasulo
, Executive VP/
Sales Operations, Sony Electronics
“The computer. No product has embedded
itself into more CE products.” —
David J. Workman
, Executive Director/
COO, Progressive Retailers Organization
(PRO Group)
“First is the development of social networks
on the Internet and along with them
our introduction into living digitally. Initial
social-network sites such as Friendster and
MySpace fueled the digital imaging revolution
as people sought to capture and share
their lives through status updates, pictures
and videos. The second is the proliferation of mobile devices
and our rapid transition to completely digital lifestyles
as it has now become possible to update our online
digital social networks instantaneously at all times from
virtually anywhere.” —
Eliott Peck
, Sales VP/GM, Canon’s
Imaging Technologies & Communications Division
“The cellular phone category is the most
important to the CE industry in the past 25
years.” —
Peter Brinkman,
Corporate Marketing VP,
Casio America
“Large-screen televisions (tube, projection,
flat panel) have transformed the home
viewing experience.” —
Jim Ristow,
Executive VP,
BrandSource/Home Entertainment Source
“Without question, HDTVs — with their
widescreen, high-resolution pictures and
Dolby Digital sound, transforming the
viewing experience and representing the
biggest change in television since the introduction
of color 40 years earlier.” —
John Taylor,
VP,
LG Electronics USA
“The digital mobile devices (2G, 3G, 4G) category
has had the greatest impact on the
industry and on consumer lifestyle. Mobile
devices from smartphones to tablets have
changed the way we work, live and play.
This connectivity has been a great equalizer,
allowing emerging markets and people
all over the world to be catapulted into the connected
world.” —
Mike Vitelli
, Co-president/Americas, Best Buy
“I have to say the Sony Walkman was the
most significant product, let alone category,
since it really created the personal
CE category of the last 25 years. The Sony
Walkman gave birth to the notion that you
could have your content with you anywhere,
anytime.” —
Jeannette Howe
,
Executive Director,
Specialty Electronics Nationwide
“The flat-panel TV has had a far-reaching
impact — from creating a world of attachment
opportunity for so many in the CE
business, to changing the way builders
design houses around the TV.” —
Michael S. Simmons
,
Executive VP, Directed Electronics
“CE’s transition of analog to digital products,
such as the first A/V receivers, since
they enabled you to get audio programming
from the Internet.” —
Tom Campbell
,
President, Tom Campbell Enterprises
“The most important CE products in the
last 25 years are digital TV, tablets and
smartphones.” —
George Manlove
,
Chairman, President & CEO,
Vann’s
“I think the personal computer, because of
the way it has changed people’s behavior
and its impact on other products — including
A/V products.” —
Tom Sumner
,
President, Yamaha Electronics USA
“How broad would we go in describing flatscreen
TV? Is it only television or is it the
computer monitor? Is it color or 3D? Does
everything build around it such as playing
DVDs, communication or entertainment?
How broad or narrow should we be? Transmission
through wires or airwaves of virtually
everything has made the world smaller with virtually
everything exposed.” —
Con Maloney
,
Chairman,
Cowboy Maloney’s Electric City
“The product categories that have defined
the last 25 years of the CE industry are
digital photography and videography, combined
with Internet connectivity, which all
together have helped enable an explosion
of content that can easily be consumed and
shared.” –
Paul Ryder
, VP, CE & wireless,
Amazon.com
“I believe the
home PC is
the most important.
With
its introduction,
all other
categories of
CE were impacted.”
Bill Trawick
,
President/Executive
Director, NATM Buying
Corporation
“Personal
computers,
since they
brought lowcost
audio/
visual compression
and Internet access
to consumers, making
products such as MP3 players,
digital cameras, wireless
networks, connected
TVs and online audio/
video distribution channels
feasible for day to day
use at very low cost.”
Andy
Parsons
, Senior VP, Pioneer
Electronics (USA)
“The smartphone
has
been one of
the single
most important
products
to the CE industry.
The technology has
set the stage for innovative
software and hardware
platforms.”
Jim Bazet
,
Chairman/CEO,
Cobra Electronics
“The Internet. It continues
to change how
consumers receive
information, shop,
to access media and
interact with virtually
all CE products.” —
David J. Workman
, Executive Director/
COO, PRO Buying Group
“The development and proliferation of the
Internet protocol has had the greatest impact
on the CE industry by far, allowing a whole
new world of access and connectivity through
devices like personal computers, tablets,
HDTVs and smartphones — people can now
be connected to content, friends and family
from virtually anywhere, anytime.” —
Mike
Vitelli,
President / The Americas, Best Buy
“I would say the
iPod. Ever since
Apple introduced
the iPod,
not only was an
industry reborn,
but it showed
that what is possible is only limited
by the imagination.” —
Bill
Trawick,
President/Executive Director,
NATM Buying
Corporation
“The optical
disc, because
its high quality
and durability
motivated
consumers to
upgrade their
audio systems (CDs), invest in
large-screen TVs, audio/video
receivers and surround sound
(LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray), and
even provided a crucial content
platform (CDs) for portable MP3
audio players to launch and
thrive with.” —
Andy Parsons,
Senior VP, Pioneer Electronics
(USA)
“The merger of
connectivity, cable
and Internet,
giving consumers
the ability to
reach out and
get information
is the most significant development
in the past 25 years.” —
Tom Campbell
, President, Tom
Campbell
Enterprises
“The connectivity
allowed by
the Internet.” —
Gary Shapiro
,
President/CEO,
Consumer
Electronics
Association
“The most important
development has
been the move from
analog to digital —
from the PC, to HDTV,
digital music players,
DVD … and beyond.”
— Jay Buchanan
, Electronics Division
Director, Nebraska Furniture Mart
“The most significant development in the industry
has been the Internet and e-commerce.
Consumers now have complete price transparency,
which has facilitated enormous price
erosion and displacement of many segments of
the industry. Moreover, Apple’s stealth innovation
and positioning in the traditional CE space
is a move many legacy companies did not anticipate.”
—
George Manlove
, Chairman, President & CEO, Vann’s
“The Internet’s
‘connectability’
drove new services,
features
and revenue
streams that
moved the revenue
needle from hardware
driven products to software
driven products.”—
Mike Troetti
,
President, Coby Electronics
“The whole
iTunes phenomenon
has been
the most significant
development
because it
opens up such
tremendous potential, allowing
consumers to store and access
thousands of their favorite songs
and enjoy them anywhere, anytime.”
—
Noel Lee
, Head Monster,
Monster Cable Products
“The rapid pace
of technology
in both the CE
device evolution
and the connectivity
ecosystem
are two significant
developments. Analog-todigital
conversion and Internetenabled
devices would be the
two key areas of advancement.”
—
Michael Fasulo
,
Executive VP/Sales Operations,
Sony Electronics
“The changeover
from analog to
digital was the
single biggest
development, as
it fundamentally
changed barriers
of entry and competitive landscapes.”—
Jay Vandenbree
,
Senior VP and head of the
LG Electronics U.S. Home
Entertainment Business
“Google’s search algorithm disrupted the industry
by empowering consumers with infinite knowledge
and raising the bar for the CE sales specialist,
while Apple showed there’s still plenty of money
to be made if you give consumers the products
and shopping experience they want.” —
Michael S.
Simmons
, Executive VP, Directed Electronics
“The ability to communicate and source information
from virtually anywhere in the world is the
most significant development in our industry over
the past 25 years. Leading that revolution of course
was the introduction of the cellular telephone in
the early ’80s. Equally significant has been the
iPhone, which took the cellphone experience to the
next level, and, of course, now the iPad — products
that have propelled Apple into unprecedented growth even in the
midst of the recent recession.”—
John J. Shalam
, Founder and
Chairman, Audiovox
“The shift from analog to digital products has increased
innovation, reduced barriers to entry and
caused a real paradigm shift where stand-alone
products like TVs, phones, PCs and even home appliances
are connected and new product categories,
such as tablets, are created.”—
Tim Baxter
,
President, CE Division, Samsung Electronics America
“Bit codes. Digital and all it brings but mostly storage,
streaming and distribution. It is slowly bringing
all things musical and video to the masses with
great selection and clarity. The challenge is to make
it sound good. This sells better electronics and, you
guessed it — speakers.”—
Robert A. Cole
, President,
Bob & Ron’s World Wide Stereo
“The Internet has made the most dramatic impact
on our industry from accessing music and movie
content, gathering information about products,
technology and peer reviews. iTunes and music
sharing have also revolutionized how we access
content, and e-commerce is having a huge impact
on how consumers purchase products, creating a
new channel of distribution at significant growth
levels.” —
Bob Weissburg
, Longtime CE Industry Executive
“Wireless everything, such as mobile phones, Wi-Fi,
Bluetooth and more. At its heart it is fulfilling the
promise of ubiquitous, affordable communications
for personal use and for critical and other public
services, which in turn contributes to society. It is
extending opportunities, improving efficiencies and
supporting the free flow of information … everywhere.”—
Joseph M. Taylor,
Chairman/CEO,
Panasonic Corp. of North America
“The development
of digital
media.”—
Marc Sculler
,
President,
Bell’O International
“Digital content delivery (CD, DVD,
HDTV, Blu-ray, iPod) and now the
cloud are the most important developments.”
—
Jim Ristow
, Executive VP,
BrandSource / Home Entertainment
Source
“The evolution
of retail — brick
and mortar’s
expansion and
subsequent
contraction —
and the Internet
have the most significant
impact on the CE industry in the
past 25 years.” —
Peter Brinkman
,
VP Corporate Marketing,
Casio America
“The most
significant
development
is the Internet.
Connectivity
has changed
everything. Just
try living a day without your
smartphone!”
—
Jeannette Howe
,
Executive Director,
Specialty Electronics Nationwide
“The advent of
the Internet has
been the most
significant development
as
it armed consumers
with
information — some good, some
bad — and has really changed
the face of CE retailing.” —
Tom
Sumner,
President, Yamaha
Electronics USA
“I would have
to say that the
advancements
in integrated
circuit technology
have been
the keys to most
of the changes we have seen in
the CE industry over the last 25
years.”—
Jim Bazet
, Chairman/
CEO, Cobra Electronics
