Shawn DuBravac, chief economist and director of research for the Consumer Electronics Association, discusses the popularity of phones and tablets in 2011 and offers some predictions for 2012.
“The driving theme for 2012 will be ubiquitous connectivity,” he writes. “This will influence every consumer tech category.”
“2011 marked an important inflection point for consumer technologies: purchases of smartphones and tablets together surpassed the sales of all traditional computing devices combined, including netbooks, notebooks, desktops and all-in-ones,” points out DuBravac. “Worldwide in 2012, smartphones will outsell all computer categories combined.”
DuBravac suggests 2011 saw improvements in the consumer tech sector, despite the overall economic landscape. “It will be a long time (read: potentially never) before we return to high double-digit year-over-year growth, but the industry has become well positioned to succeed with solid mid-single digit growth. I would argue the industry — inclusive of retailers and OEMs — is as efficient as it has ever been.”
LG has announced three new models of 3D glasses that will be available in 2012. “New CINEMA 3D TV glasses will convince more consumers that 3D doesn’t have to be uncomfortable or ugly,” suggests the press release.
The F310 weighs 20 percent less than the company’s default glasses from last year and is curved for a better fit, the F320 (designed by Alain Mikli) clips on for those who wear glasses, and the F360 feature half-rim frames.
“Compared to active shutter glasses, LG’s 3D glasses are far more comfortable to wear and much more affordable, making it possible for large groups and entire families to watch 3D programs and movies together,” claims Havis Kwon, president and CEO of LG Home Entertainment.
According to LG, all of its 3D glasses can be used in theaters showing 3D movies “since both CINEMA 3D and theaters utilize the same FPR and RealD technologies.”
The company also announced new Smart TV features for 2012 in a separate press release, highlighting the new Magic Remote (with voice activation) and confirmation of Intel WiDi integration.
“We’re not seeing any Google TV tie-ins here, LG is focusing on its homegrown ecosystem which it says now offers 1,200 apps (of course, that probably includes the thousand or so recently added via its deal with Chumby),” reports Engadget. “There’s no word on pricing for the glasses, but after this and announcing a 55-inch OLED prototype, we’re wondering what else the Lucky Goldstar folks will have up their sleeves at CES.”
Amazon’s ongoing large-scale success with CEO Jeff Bezos at the helm has some speculating whether the company could replace Apple on top of the tech world.
Amazon does it all with its retail store, Prime accounts, media streaming, Kindle products, Web hosting service and more.
Tim Fernholz at GOOD Magazine, along with his team, named Amazon the next top tech company: “In the new Internet economy of cloud computing and content distribution, only Amazon is moving with confidence. It has winning products in multiple key sectors and a visionary founder poised to iterate on success.”
Even so, Forbes contributing writer E.D. Kain suggests that “Android may be catching up in terms of the number of installations and apps, but the Google OS is still light years behind Apple’s operating system and only a very small handful of Android phones have come close to the design quality of Apple’s line-up. No tablet, including Amazon’s Kindle Fire, can hold a candle to the iPad.”
Kain adds that it’s interesting to note how Microsoft is not mentioned in this discussion. He also points out how electronics manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, and LG are left out of the equation. “Amazon, on the other hand, which used to sell primarily books is being crowned the tech company of the future.”
The home entertainment industry saw some interesting changes in 2011, including a reduction in the number of Netflix subscribers, VOD starting to attract consumers, movie rentals via Facebook, dramatic changes to YouTube content, and the launch of UltraViolet.
The industry posted its first positive quarter since the start of the 2008 economic downturn, with consumer spending up in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the same period the year before.
“We started out the year with tough year-over-year comps to box office, but have made steady gains throughout 2011, with an especially strong third quarter,” says Ron Sanders, president of Warner Home Video. “We seem to be getting some momentum in the sellthrough space, with catalog being a particular bright spot. Black Friday was very strong this year and also bodes well for a strong finish to 2011 and good momentum into the first quarter of 2012.”
“To be sure, challenges remain,” reports Home Media Magazine. “3D has yet to come into its own, in large part due to the various competing formats on the hardware side. BD-Live never became a major selling point, and retail merchandising on behalf of Blu-ray Disc, in the minds of many observers, remains woefully inadequate compared with the royal welcome afforded DVD a decade ago.”
However, a number of studio executives are optimistic for the upcoming year. “In 2012,” explains Lori MacPherson, EVP of global product management for Disney, “we’ll see greater consumption of Blu-ray and the many digital offerings, new and compelling 3D applications as well as the emergence of even more ubiquitous consumer access to our content.”
Skype is now eight years old and continues to grow. The New York Times reports: “300 million minutes of Skype video calls are made a day worldwide, up about 900 percent from 2007, according to data provided by Skype.”
The article highlights how people are increasingly using the service in interesting ways, especially during the holidays, focusing on one family that celebrates “Skypanukkah,” during which members of the family light Hannukah candles while on the video chatting service.
According to the article, “the software — and others like it, including Apple’s FaceTime and Google chat — has become a regular fixture in a growing number of American homes, providing new ways for families to stay connected in an age where generations are less likely to gather around the table on Sunday afternoons to share a meal.”
Additional uses for Skype include grandparents meeting new grandchildren, relatives and friends participating in a baby shower, and children performing routines for their relatives who may not have had the means to take a plane to a recital or school performance. The article notes: “…far-flung families are opening birthday gifts together, reading bedtime stories and even providing brief moments of child care.”
Maker Studios is an online media company and network of 250 channels that generate some 500 million hits per month on YouTube.
The Venice, California-based company produces 300-400 videos per month. Started with 8 people two years ago, the productions now involve 200 people (and growing).
They have created their own studio infrastructure — video production, editing, music, animation — to support the channels. Creators are provided a great deal of freedom.
According to one of the producers, discussing the motivation to break away from the traditional “gatekeepers” of film and TV: “I think when we found YouTube, it was just really exciting because it was like wow, this is a place where we can build and find a worldwide audience and create whatever we want, whenever we feel like it.”
Is Maker Studios the new model for an Internet content studio? Watch the 6-minute video tour with Carson Daly.
Although previously opponents in various patent infringement lawsuits, Nuance announced last week its acquisition of voice-recognition competitor Vlingo.
“Our combined resources afford us the opportunity to better compete, and offer a powerful proposition to customers, partners and developers,” Vlingo CEO Dave Grannan said.
“Nuance cited that a main reason for the acquisition is a ‘$5 billion market opportunity’ that spans phones, PCs, tablets, cars, music players and navigation devices,” reports Mashable, “and it plans to integrate natural language interfaces across these areas and devices.”
The collaboration hopes to provide a competitor to Siri and Google’s expected assistant Majel as more mobile and consumer electronics companies look to have conversational voice interactions with their devices.
Onkyo has announced that its 2012 line of AV receivers will include InstaPrevue technology from Silicon Image and HDMI ports leveraging Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) technology.
“When consumers connect an MHL-compatible smartphone or tablet to an MHL-equipped AV receiver or directly to an MHL-equipped TV, they can stream 1080p HD video and 7.1-channel surround sound from the mobile device to their home theater system,” reports TWICE.
“The HDMI port of the AV receiver or TV will also charge the portable device, and consumers will be able to use their TV or AVR remote to control the playback of content streamed from their MHL-enabled mobile device.”
According to the MHL Consortium, 23 smartphones currently feature MHL technology including the Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Infuse and HTC’s EVO 3D. In terms of tablets, the HTC Flyer and EVO 3D View 4G also feature MHL.
“Silicon Image’s InstaPrevue technology will be demonstrated at CES in a private booth in South Hall 2,” notes the article. “Onkyo will demonstrate both technologies at a public suite at the Venetian.”
Stream TV Networks will showcase its Ultra-D technology at CES that converts 2D content to 3D in real time.
Their products are designed for TVs, converter boxes, tablets, PCs, smartphones, digital signage and picture frames.
The technology allows the user to increase or decrease the real-time 3D rendering effect. Glasses are not required.
“The biggest hindrance to consumer adoption of 3D technology thus far has been a lack of content, and price,” reports TechCrunch. “While I can’t vouch for their price tags quite yet, it would seem that Stream TV Networks has come up with some new 3D technology that could make that whole limited content thing much less of an issue.”
Last week ETCentric reported that comedian Louis CK was seeing some initial success with his distribution experiment of selling his self-produced show for $5 online. Many were surprised when he reportedly earned $200,000 in three days.
Via the comedian’s event blog, we have an update…
Louis CK has now grossed more than $1 million in 12 days. In a surprise move, he is giving much of the money away.
“So it’s been about 12 days since the thing started and yesterday we hit the crazy number. One million dollars. That’s a lot of money. Really too much money,” he writes. “So I guess I want to set an example of what you can do if you all of a sudden have a million dollars that people just gave to you directly because you told jokes.”
The performer is breaking the revenue into four segments: $250 thousand will cover production costs, another $250 thousand will be divided amongst staff members for a “big fat bonus,” $280 thousand will be donated to five charities, and the remaining amount will go to Louis CK. “Some of that will pay my rent and will care for my children. The rest I will do terrible, horrible things with and none of that is any of your business.”
The comedian has an interesting philosophy regarding this experiment: “I never viewed the money as being ‘my money.’ I always saw it as ‘The money.’ It’s a resource. If it pools up around me then it needs to be flushed back out into the system.”
If the concert continues to sell and makes another million dollars, he plans to give away more of the profits.
“Laptop and desktop computers aren’t always the most high-profile of products shown at CES,” suggests CNET, “but with an influx of new, thin, ultrabook laptops expected, as well as an updated CPU platform from Intel, you’re sure to get a detailed view of what PCs will be on shopping lists for the rest of 2012.”
CNET expects we should see the following trends:
Laptops will get thinner: “…nearly every computer manufacturer will get in on the act with at least one 13- or 14-inch entry.”
Nothing will be close to last year’s evolutionary Sandy Bridge leap: “…the industry is really waiting for Intel’s next-generation CPU architecture, code-named Ivy Bridge, due out in mid 2012.”
The impact of Windows 8: “…we could see ARM-based laptops taking over some of the low end of the market previously owned by Intel’s Atom CPU line.”
Ultraportable crossovers and hybrids, some running Android and others with Windows.
Consumer and business laptops will cross streams with “less distinction between business and personal tools, and you’ll see consumer PC models made available to business customers and vice versa.”
Thunderbolt’s coming-out party: “If Ivy Bridge isn’t going to receive a big push at CES, we also have to wonder about Thunderbolt, the fast new connection standard Intel introduced on Apple’s 2011 Macs. A few PC products already have Thunderbolt ports, but Ivy Bridge will popularize the standard by supporting Thunderbolt at the chipset level. Once that happens, we anticipate an influx of Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals like fast external storage hubs and external graphics cards.”
More people are using smartphones instead of point-and-shoot cameras for recording photographs. Smartphone share of photos rose from 17 percent last year to 27 percent this year, while camera share dropped from 52 percent to 44 percent.
Two rising camera segments include those with a detachable lens (average price $863), which rose 12 percent, and point-and-shoot cameras with optical zooms of 10X or greater, which rose 16 percent. These clearly appeal to hobbyists looking for better quality and features not available on smartphones.
Smartphones are offering “good enough” picture quality for most people while offering the advantages of constant accessibility and ease of sharing pictures with friends and family.
“A few clicks and the image is posted to Facebook, emailed off to a grandparent, or published in a blog,” reports CNBC. “And smartphone apps like Hipstamatic make it fun and easy to tinker with special effects on the image.”
This year may be Microsoft’s final appearance at CES. The company announced on Monday that it is bowing out of CES 2013 with no current plans to return any time soon.
The company’s involvement has traditionally included a major keynote address, significant booth presence on the showroom floor and outdoor tents.
“In looking at all the ways that Microsoft is now reaching its customers today (its owned events, marketing campaigns, retail stores, etc.) this felt like a natural time to make this transition,” explained a Microsoft PR representative.
As CES has shifted from a PC-centric show to an event focused on a wide array of accessories, cameras, PC components, and mobile devices, TechCrunch notes that Microsoft likely considers itself better served showcasing at the likes of MWC, CTIA and E3.
Los Angeles Times adds that CES, “once a marquee launchpad for some of the biggest new technologies, has struggled to stay in the headlines as big companies increasingly announce new products on their own timeline. In 2011, no eye-openingly new products were announced at the Las Vegas show, and most companies chose to introduce televisions, tablets and smartphones that largely resembled existing products.”
Microsoft has made it a long-standing tradition to kick off CES with its own news, but no longer feels it is necessary due to its product announcements not lining up with the conference’s dates. Much of Steve Ballmer’s talks at past CES shows have been rehashings of previously released products, and the company seems to be leaning toward investing in its own events to prevent this, suggests All Things D.
Ballmer will, possibly for the last time, kick off CES 2012 with his keynote on January 9.
Inventors Steve Isaac and Bradley Melmon have created a transparent keyboard membrane designed to easily fit over the iPad’s screen.
The intended result is a touchscreen keyboard called TouchFire that does not require Bluetooth (most third party keyboards connect via the wireless standard).
“Part of what is unique about the TouchFire is the way Isaac and Melmon have funded its development: rather than drum up traditional investment — or sell the idea to a firm that specializes in computer or mobile accessories — they put the idea into Kickstarter,” reports Digital Trends.
“The TouchFire didn’t actually muster up the first time it was submitted to Kickstarter,” explains the post, “although a second application did the trick — and supporters have now pledged over $200,000 to the TouchFire. Isaac and Melmon were originally looking for $10,000.”
The first run of the TouchFire sold out to those who pledged funds via Kickstarter, but a second production run is expected to have the $44.95 keyboard available by February or March 2012.
The audio team at BBC R&D is actively researching potential next generation audio formats, with an emphasis on investigating 3D sound.
Of particular interest to the team is Ambisonics, which “is different from other surround sound formats, such as 5.1 because it doesn’t rely on a specific speaker layout,” reports Wired UK. “Ambisonics captures the entire 3D sound field as a set of spherical harmonics which can then be decoded for a wide variety of speaker layouts, including stereo and 5.1. This means the audience can pick the sound profile that best suits their listening environment.”
The team has been experimenting with 3D audio capture in real-world live production environments, then returning to a dedicated listening lab that features a 16-speaker set up.
The research involves a spatial audio panner that uses gestural controls via the Microsoft Kinect to move sound around a 3D space. “Traditional mixing desk have a single rotary controller which controls the panning for each channel. When you have control over sounds in 3D space it becomes much more complex,” explains Chris Pike, audio research engineer with the Beeb team in Manchester.
3D audio would complement both 2D and 3D video experiences.
The Wired UK article includes an interesting BBC R&D video about immersive 3D audio systems.