By Teresa A. Martin
Two events this week grabbed my interest and I wish I’d been Out & About at either of them, but at least we can all live vicariously online!
CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show, has been running this week in Las Vegas. This is biggest, coolest collection of gadgets and future what-if you can imagine ... HD-TV vs Blu-Ray (aka, the way we will watch ‘video’ in the near future), hands-free voice control of mp3 players mounted in the steering wheels of cars, camcorders in a zillion configurations, TV on phones, awesome new sound systems ... well, you get the idea. The toys we dream about in one big glossy Vegas package!
And then, a few hundred miles to the northwest at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, there was the much-anticipated announcement of Apple’s new goodies: a music and video server, sleek, sexy, and affordable, and -- finally! -- Apple’s entry into the mobile phone market.
Wow, what a week!
We are a gadget species. Tools aren’t enough for us -- we just can’t help but flock to fun toys. And what a choice we have!
We are truly in the time when convergence is entering our living rooms and cars. The toys of choice are all about how we manage our digital music, our digital video, our digital data, our digital entertainment and do it all with flair and style.
About five years ago, CES was the site of the first really big vendor push into the integrated living room. I remember drooling at $25,000 plasma television screens and strolling through faux living room sets with a Jetsons complex.
But the vision was still a little rough around the edges. For example, Microsoft somehow thought that a lime green and black Xbox was the secret sauce for becoming the digital entertainment center. Mmm , no. Did I mention that style matters in matters of consumer convergence? Unless the living room in question features post-dorm wagon wheel coffee tables and a lot of buddy beer drinking, ugly neon green boxes will not be part of the decor. Trust me and every other female type person on this one.
But fast forward a few years and you can see that electronics and computer companies are grasping this concept. Apple is still a few steps ahead, but there are a lot of sleek looking digital centers at CES this year that could indeed appear in the Ethan Allen cherry armoire or sitting atop the antique oak sideboard without setting off a decorating War of the Roses. Yeah, style matters as much as functionality in our toys – and in our homes.
Style and functionality are the story behind the iPhone. That would be the Apple iPhone, not the Cisco-owned iPhone trademark, of course.
As you may have read, Apple has displayed its typical Apple arrogance and proceeded with it announcement while brushing off Cisco’s claims of name ownership. In reality it probably doesn’t matter since everyone was calling the Apple phone the iPhone in the rumor mill long before it saw the light of day this week.
And what nice light. This is one slick looking phone/portable device, packed with actual useful features all access via a touch screen. And wifi built in – drop into any wireless zone, like say, an Unwired Village, and you have instant browsing on your phone. I can’t wait to get my hands on one! The buzz about it is enormous and those who have had a chance to play with one say feels as good to use as it is to look at.
Of course, the sad news it that we can’t run out and buy one, at least not until this summer. And is appears at this time that one must use Cingular service with it, not the greatest option here on the Cape. But June is a long time away still ... and who knows what distribution agreement Verizon Wireless might pull out of its hat by then.
And don’t forget the power of competition. Samsung, the third largest cell phone vendor, is already talking how about this will push it and other to create more interesting and useful phone designs.
Did I mention that style matters?
And so does buzz. The other story of the week is about how we generate excitement for the new toys, how we create conversation about sort of esoteric topics like competing digital formats HD-TV and Blu-Ray in a way that makes them household words. Well, at least in households with gadget lovers.
The well of online gossip and rumor certainly drove the MacWorld announcement. The communities of audiophiles drive the development of cool audio devices like the Philips Soundbar, a self described home theater in a speaker.
Buzz + Style = the digital dream book. Remember being a kid and looking at all the toys in the Sears or Penny’s catalog? It’s the same experience, just with a slightly new spin. And, well, OK, so I probably won’t be hosting any of these toys in my own living room or car anytime soon, but isn’t’ it fun to look?
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