CES Round-up Part Two – How will it change the face of business?
While gadget-loving amateurs got a wealth of fun new innovations to play with at CES this year, an editor at Wired.com belittled this year’s CES somewhat as containing too few quality product developments and too many gimmicks, such as waterproof tablets. And sure, while the latest biggest, brightest TV might be a great development for the casual user, it might not find a place in today’s equally busy business market.
So what news did CES bring us of the future of business tech?
The harsh comments made about the tablet offerings might have been justified, but the direction the market is taking in relation to storage has facilitated a rise in the number of tablets being offered, along with other gadgets depending on remote and cloud hosting. 2012 is likely to be the year that cloud computing becomes the normal attitude for the future among businesses, and has facilitated a rise in the number of gadgets that place convenience first, allowing individuals to become hyperconnected on-the-go to either work or entertainment facilities. From a dashboard computer mounted in a new Mercedes-Benz to downloading your work files to your TV, or to a 4G quad-core processor in a new phone by Fujitsu, it would seem that there will soon be no escape for consumers. And given how much potential revenue will be generated from hyperconnectivity, commercial businesses won’t be able to escape the cloud, either.
The biggest shocker at CES this year was Microsoft’s announcement that this would be its last CES. This is big enough news as it is, but the speculation surrounding the exit is what has really piqued interest. Rumours abound of new Windows 8 coming to the market within the next few years, revolutionising the functionality of the typical desktop OS. A Microsoft demonstration showed that the new OS was to be a fusion of the existing Windows phone and PC OSes, designed to be operated with either mouse and keyboard or the more advanced touchscreen and motion-sense technology. This might indicate that given that a relative minority of business hardware has this functionality at the moment, there’s no guessing when the launch might take place and Microsoft’s spokesman gave no clues. The fact that Microsoft have withdrawn from future CES events was, he said, most likely to be due to their wish to better control launches in the future. In an event like CES, the great innovations have to contend with the massive noise of conversations around the event as a whole, so a separate launch is probably going to be the wisest choice for something that they’re wishing/hoping will make a real impact.
Which CES innovation do you think will have the biggest impact on your business?
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