Summary Bullets:
- CES 2014 continued the trend of including high-profile participation from players outside the consumer electronics world.
- This trend is best understood in terms of enabling ‘consumer experiences.’
Last year, when coordinating with colleagues around CES 2013, a few were surprised that I had set aside time to connect with the likes of Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, and Ericsson. “They don’t make phones. They don’t make tablets. They don’t make TVs. Sure, Cisco makes set-tops, but why are the other vendors even coming to CES? I suppose some execs just wanted a free trip to Vegas!” Okay, in retrospect, I’m probably remembering things in a much more amplified form. That said, you get the idea. For a show with ‘consumer electronics’ in the title, it does seem a little strange that vendors traditionally associated with network infrastructure would be exhibiting.
Wait, did I say “exhibiting”? Scratch that. Insert “keynoting” in its place.
Continue reading “CES 2014: Consumer Electronics vs. Consumer Experiences”