CES 2020 Day 0 – The placeholder.

CES 2021 shaping up to be just a placeholder for 2022.

• If the media day is anything to go by, the CTA will be very keen to ensure that CES 2022 goes ahead just as it did in 2020 before anyone decides that they no longer need to bother with attending.
• The media day is characterised by a series of press conferences that give the media an early look at what will headline the next 4 days and while the sessions were pretty much the same, the content was radically different.
• The most exaggerated term used yesterday was “excited” because hardly anyone made any real announcements and those that did were clearly not excited to be speaking to an empty room nor did they announce anything particularly special.
• In many ways, it was as if these companies had turned up to the digital venue for no other reason to ensure that they would still be on the slate for 2022.
• Almost all the press conferences were a mixture of a review of the last 12 months, a reminder of what their strategies are and what their product portfolios look like along with a load of slick photography and high production values.
• The one exception was Intel which cleverly gave its slot to its subsidiary Mobileye that actually had something to say as well as stuff to announce.
• Here Mobileye announced upgrades to its self-driving system that make it much easier to move the vehicle from one place to another without having to retrain the software.
• I think that this represents a significant advance as the limitations of AI are what is holding autonomous driving back and it looks like that this is what Mobileye has recognised and is working on fixing.
• This was a triumph of substance over form (simple video Q&A) where almost everyone else relied on flashy graphics and high-quality production to gloss over the fact that they had very little to say.
• Sony talked about PlayStation 5 and launched a drone while Samsung talked about robots that no one is going to buy and LG focused on wellness-related products that it has already launched.
• While it was a relief not to have to queue for ages for every conference, drink terrible coffee in the media room and jostle with my colleagues for power sockets, the chatter, rumour, chance meetings and interest that categorise this show are completely missing.
• The exhibitors know it which is clear through their lacklustre press conferences and the media knows it as evidenced by the lack of exited commentary on the websites of any of the outlets.
• Instead, this looks like nothing more than a day that is somewhat heavier than usual in terms of technology-related press announcements.
• The key to this show is going to be how well CTA has managed to replicate the exhibitions in the digital format.
• Based on how difficult discovery has been in the run-up to this show (there is just a long list of names and logos to choose from meaning that you have to know what you are looking for) I am not very optimistic.
• However, as ever, I will be approaching the exhibits over the next 3 days with an open mind.
• I think that deep down the CTA can’t wait for this to be over and it will redouble its efforts to ensure that CES 2022 goes ahead as exactly as it has for many years.
• It is critical for the CTA and the CES show for 2022 to be a smashing success.
• Be ready for it to move to the summer of 2022 (like MWC) as this will be one way to mitigate the risk of a last-minute winter COVID surge killing the show.