CES 2020: Has the consumer electronics show lost its way?
Author: James Mattil
The Consumer Electronics Show bills itself as America’s largest trade show. It’s like a World’s Fair of electronics. What’s a World Fair? you ask. The World’s Fair has all but vanished; historically these were large-scale expositions that highlighted advances stemming from industrialization, featuring such break throughs as electric lighting, telephones and so forth. But their day has passed into history and this may foretell the future of CES today.
The CES show surged in popularity as a key driver of computer technology, the Internet and cell phones, but the press coverage from CES 2020 portrays a different picture. Sure, the show attracts many of the world’s largest tech companies with glitzy exhibits, but that’s a only part of the exhibition. And the major firms aren’t always introducing breakthrough technology. As a result, the show has changed to add a broadly-defined range of so-called consumer electronics that dilutes the show’s focus, value and appeal.
The event is held in Las Vegas, NV each January and the exhibits are spread across 3 huge halls (North, Central and South), plus additional venues around the city’s famous “Strip.”
These days the North Hall is dedicated to automotive technology, which is more accurately described as transportation than consumer electronics. The big high-tech players reside in the Central Hall – the likes of Samsung, Sony, Canon, Panasonic, LG, Intel and many other household names and a few young upstarts too. It’s noteworthy that Apple does not participate at all at CES.
The South Hall is home to a mash-up of firms from AI and robotics to headphones, ear-buds and a virtual flea market of things with and without electricity. CES 2020, devoted a lot of space and attention to topics like self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, 5G and smart cities.
Smart cities, for example, are not consumer electronics by any stretch. People don’t buy or wear a city, so why is this part of the show? Someday, people may buy into 5G cellular service, but not yet. The same is true of 8K video and television. As yet, nobody is even broadcasting in 4K.
So, what is the attraction? Well, huge crowds gather to watch the Samsung, or LG displays of massive video monitors, linked to provide larger than life nature, or city scenes. And then the product displays are two crowded to view or to get product information. The situation is the same at Sony, Canon and Nikon exhibits. Beyond these amazing displays, the exhibits quickly devolve into the mundane, pitching everyday products with modest, if any, new levels of innovation.
One example was Avita, a new manufacturer of “lifestyle” laptop computers that was recognized with a CES 2020 Innovation Award. The product was indeed stylish. But PC Mag also reviewed the Avita laptops and concluded that, “Avita’s first US laptop release, the Clarus, underperforms to the point that it’s hard to recommend, even if you’re smitten by its appealing, Apple-inspired design.”
Meanwhile, CNET reported on the 5 most important things that happened at CES 2020. And this reporting highlights the lowlights. Breaking News: Computers are now folding like phones once did, twenty years ago. Is this new and noteworthy? Not really.
And what’s the deal with Impossible Pork burgers? Last year the company introduced Impossible Beef, now it’s pork – and exactly does this fit into consumer electronics? It doesn’t.
Meanwhile, concessionaires offer more traditional fare at remarkable prices: one banana $3.00 each, one hot dog $9.98, with a bun and visitor parking at $40.00 per day. CES tickets start at $300 for access to the exhibits and can range up to $1,700 with full access to conference sessions, of dubious value.
I’ve attended CES for the past 4-years, but doubt I’ll go again. And I don’t think I’m alone. The hallways and corridors look like a homeless encampment, as literally thousands of visitors flake out to eat, rest a wile away their day, oblivious to the exhibition itself.
It would be interesting to see the traffic figures for this year’s show, which seemed noticeably less than prior years. Maybe, it’s due to the US-China trade war, slowing international economies, or disappointing past experience. And maybe it’s the result of CES losing focus as it strives to be all things to all people – the flagging World’s Fair of the 21st Century.