CES 2006 starts at different times for different people. For me, last night was the official kickoff with the traditional delay getting into Las Vegas and the post-midnight check-in at the Bellagio. (This time, though, my luggage arrived with me.) By the way, Intel once again owns the baggage claim area where CES is concerned. Some pix in my Flickr photo stream using the tag CES2006.
The first press events are today — I’ll be heading to the Sands for CES Unveiled, a first look at the Innovations Plus. Instead of being shoehorned in at the Las Vegas Convention Center, digital imaging, enabling technologies and emerging applications now have their own venue. Good for them, incredibly complicating for anyone who needs to be at both locations. Some 70 companies get a first crack at attention this afternoon, many with relevance to our mission including Mobile ESPN, Qualcomm, Digeo, Motorola, S-A, etc.
Last year, we stressed that our CES focus would be on digital content rather than the gee-whiz devices. This year, I think it’s safe to say the two are inextricably entwined. Take the Starz announcement re Vongo, where the content announcement comes with device compatibility. (I hear from Russell Beattie that it won’t work on his new Media Center, which means it won’t work on mine.) More and more often, content is driving choices about hardware just as acquiring certain devices drives content use and adoption.
Some people have dubbed this the real convergence CES or the portable CES or the CES where it all comes together. Given the torrent of subscription announcements, content deals, DRM-driven devices, this actually could be the “silo CES” — the one where convergence works as long as you stay within certain boundaries, where some content becomes more available and less accessible at the same time, where the content universe become even more fragmented, where the consumer gets both the flexibility and tyranny of even more choice. Then there’s the “mirage CES” — the promises of compatibility and seamless networking of everything that seem to get closer every year but remain just out of reach.
In any case, one truism exists — it will be a newsy CES.
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