LAS VEGAS, 23 January 2007 — At the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), some of the consumer electronics industry’s biggest stars presented their view of the future. For the keynote speakers, convergence was a big topic again, although there seemed to be some disagreement on whether the mobile phone or the computer would be the portal to all connected delights in years to come.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates took the stage for his 10th keynote appearance at CES and he announced that he would return next year. He mentioned that after 2008, if he comes to speak at CES, it will be about his philanthropic activities and not technology.
Gates discussed the strides that have been made in digital technologies in the past year. Digital photography is ubiquitous and there is increasing penetration of the Internet worldwide. Over 40 percent of US homes now have multiple personal computers. Portable devices are proliferating and becoming a higher part of the growing PC market. In the area of storage space, Gates pointed out that people aren’t talking gigabytes anymore, they’re talking terabytes of storage, or petabytes of storage. He advised though that all this hardware is not enough.
“There are some key things missing, and in particular the key thing missing is the connection. Delivering on connected experiences requires more than just great hardware. So consumer electronics has been defined to be a much broader industry. The content people now need to think about how they create around this environment, how they connect into it. It is an environment where people want to do things across multiple devices, working with many other people,” Gates said.
He added: “I want my music when I’m in the car, when I’m at home, when I’m in the living room. I want that to be simple. I want my family’s schedule, and the ease of updating it, from the phone, the PC, just touching something on the refrigerator. I want to collaborate with people. I want to have the experience connect up to people at work, as well as at home. So we can’t just say consumer, because the experiences span into that business environment.”
After giving his overview of the requirements of digital future, Gates then used his CES keynote to speak about the “Connected Experience,” and how Windows Vista will make it easier, safer and more fun to use the PC and will play a central role in the experience.
While too much of the technology on display at the 2007 International CES will take years, if ever, to become available in much of the developing world, Motorola was one international technology vendor who proved that it really is interested in serving markets globally.
Ed Zander, president and CEO of Motorola, kicked off Day One of CES with an opening keynote, which immediately followed a State of the Industry Address by Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association — the organizers of CES.
Zander rode onstage on a bicycle that can power a cell phone. Zander advised the international audience that people around the world are getting connected with 25 million mobile phones sold each second, many of those phones being purchased by consumers in emerging markets. He emphasized that people in the United States cannot understand the global impact of mobile technologies. He insisted that it is necessary for Americans to go abroad to understand how mobile handsets are changing the world.
To do its part in making new technologies available to all, Zander explained that Motorola is focusing on connecting the unconnected in emerging markets with its inexpensive Motofone. The Motofone is designed for markets where people know little about technology. All features in the device are voice activated in native languages and the phone will be sold for a very low price. Additionally, Motorola has developed a charging device that can be incorporated in a bicycle to charge the phone in places where electricity is scarce.
In his keynote, Zander then went on to discuss that cool mobile devices need to be enabled with cool experiences. He introduced a new mobile application Yahoo! Go (go.yahoo.com), which is designed to be used on mobile phones. The beta version is available immediately and the plan is to roll out Yahoo! Go worldwide.
On Day Two of CES, Michael Dell, founder and chairman of Dell Inc., discussed Dell’s plans in regards to new hardware, customer programs and a landmark environmental program. In a nice touch, Dell welcomed the many people who were watching his keynote through a public webcast. This was something that nearly every speaker forgot — that courtesy of the Internet, CES has a global audience now.
Dell commented that for at least the past six years, the digital home has been a very hot topic at CES, but the concept hasn’t quite caught on for two reasons.
“The first is that broadband isn’t really where it needs to be for a robust online experience, and the second is that the industry really hasn’t made it easy for all these products, all this digital content to work together throughout the home. It’s not a seamless experience,” Dell said.
He remarked that to use all the great content available online, a fast connection is needed. While broadband connections through DSL or cable are on the rise, he believes that to have the best online multimedia experience, a faster fiber connection is required. He pointed out that the popular online video service, You Tube, today consumes as much bandwidth as the entire Internet consumed in the year 2000.
“Now, when you imagine the multitude of new services and new capabilities coming online, that says we’re all going to need a lot more bandwidth, and certainly a lot more servers and storage to serve it all up,” Dell said. “Now, fiber penetration is in its infancy, but we see some progress. Singapore has a plan to offer its residents one gigabit per second — wouldn’t you like to have that? — by 2015. You can already get 100 megabits per second in Denmark, Japan, Romania, Iceland, Slovenia, Dubai, parts of Kuwait, and in cities like Paris and Prague. In fact, in Iceland, you can get it for $26 a month. I challenged the telecom industry to accelerate the deployment of fiber in the home.”
Dell went on to discuss the second barrier to the digital home, which is sharing digital content between different devices. Then he introduced Dell’s vision of how to “gear-up” the family room with the Dell Home Media Suite.
“It’s based on a Dell XPS410 with a Core Two Duo processor, 2GB of memory, 1TB of RAID disk drive, and a DVD read/write optical drive,” said Dell of the Home Media Suite. “It’ll be loaded with Windows Vista starting in a few weeks. It’s got Creative Precision monitor speakers and a live webcam. It’s got our new 27-inch display and our Dell 966 all-in-one printer. It’s got a Linksys 802.11 and dual-band router, and it’s also got a digital high-definition TV cable tuner.”
Finally, Dell turned from technology itself, to technology’s impact on the environment. He quoted the Muppet philosopher, Kermit the Frog, who once said, “It’s not easy being green.” Dell’s chairman doesn’t think that should be the case. Dell is the global leader in product recycling and Dell ranks No. 1 among computer manufacturers in Greenpeace’s latest industry report that ranks manufacturers on their policies, practices and kickback programs. Dell’s chairman reminded the audience that Dell offers free recycling for every customer in every country where the company does business. The he announced Dell’s new environmental program.
“Dell becomes the first global technology company to let customers offset the emissions associated with the electricity their computers use. We’re partnering with the conservation fund and the carbon fund, and the program is called ‘Plant a Tree for Me,’” explained the Dell chairman. “Customers, starting today in the US, buying desktop or notebook computers have the option — for a notebook it is $2, for a desktop it is $6. One hundred percent of those funds will be used to plant trees and manage forests. The trees absorb carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere when electricity is generated to power a computer over its average three-year life.”
“Plant a Tree for Me,” will be available to any US consumer for any brand of computer in February, and it will be available globally in April. For more information on the program click to www.dell.com/earth.
