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CES 2012: a recap and analysis

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:40:31 +0000

This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history, boasting 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. The Kerton Group sent three delegates to CES to scout out new products, listen to keynotes, watch announcements and get tips from insiders. This report, which bundles those findings together, serves as an outline of the major launches and overarching trends at CES (think smartphones for $0, Androidification and connectivity) as well as an analysis of what those developments mean for the larger consumer electronics picture. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Tesla and T-Mobile. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial.

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Why Google Android’s Electric Vehicle Deal With GM Matters

Josie Garthwaite — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:00:14 +0000

General Motors moved this week to link its upcoming Chevrolet Volt and in-vehicle communications system, OnStar, with Google navigation tools and smartphones based on the search giant’s Android platform. This marks a key intersection in the trajectories of automakers and Internet giants and could pave the way to much more comprehensive partnerships across previously disconnected industries and systems.

Automotive Market to Fuel Apps and App Stores

Colin Gibbs — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:14:58 +0000

The automotive industry is fertile soil for the kind of apps that have revolutionized the mobile space over the last year, according to a report released today from iSuppli. The appeal of in-car applications is easy to see. Drivers could use such offerings for navigation purposes and location-aware services, while passengers could pass the time with casual games or other entertainment genres. And as we become increasingly connected, we’re likely to see a host of other gadgets and platforms embrace such models, from TVs to dedicated portable music players and gaming devices.

A handful of companies showcased auto-application initiatives at last month’s Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany: BMW demonstrated a new app store that delivers offerings directly to the vehicle or via a PC; Nokia unveiled a solution that integrates a smartphone with the car’s in-dash computer systems; and Parrot is developing an Android-based device that offers “automotive implementation of all smartphone features.”

But I think the key to success in the era of the app store will be interoperability. Consumers won’t want to establish accounts at multiple app stores and shop at device-specific outlets every time they want to check out the latest offerings, which is why I think Nokia and Parrot have the right idea — and why BMW is moving down the wrong path with its own branded app store. The smartphone won’t necessarily have to serve as the hub of any scenario where consumers use apps across a bunch of different devices, but it should serve as a kind of vehicle for apps, enabling users to access them from multiple platforms in different ways. BMW would be wise to partner with a mobile player — or at least a player like Amazon or Facebook looking to enter the app-store space — as applications move well beyond smartphones.

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