While I didn't attend the Consumer Electronics Show in person, I followed the press coverage. My interest was twofold: personal and work. From a personal perspective, I'm interested in consumer electronics and I have a full compliment of devices at my home - many of which are listed on GDGT. From a work perspective, I'm a mobile enterprise technology evangelist for IBM with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. With more and more employees bringing personally owned mobile devices to the workplace, it's important for me to keep up to date on the latest technology. In fact, IBM recently published a new thought leadership whitepaper on this topic: The New Workplace: Supporting "Bring your own"
In short, I was disappointed with CES as there was nothing that truly "knocked my socks off." The following are a few items of interest:
- Intel. Ultrabooks (e.g. HP Envy Sceptre), Atom-powered smartphones (e.g. Lenovo K800) and tablets
- OLED televisions from Samsung and LG
- Nokia's return the US smartphone market with the new Lumia 900 LTE Windows Phone. The new HTC Titan 2 "supersized" Windows Phone with 16MP camera, 4.7 inch screen and LTE also looks interesting. Windows Phone 7 is well positioned to gain market share in 2012
From a personal perspective here's what I'm most interest, I'm most interested in 2012:
- A new car with telematics (e.g. My Ford Touch). My aging Toyota Avalon 2001 is in need of a replacement
- New smartphones. I'm interested in upgrading my iPhone 4 to the new "5" this summer or a new Android phone. I'm also interested in upgrading my wife's Samsung Focus Windows Phone to the new Nokia Lumia 900.
- New TV. While the new OLED TVs are probably out of my price range, I would like to upgrade an old Sony 34" XBR HD tube in my den to a flat panel
- New computer monitor for my home office. My existing 20" monitor needs to be replaced. I'm interested in the new 27" Samsung connected monitors coming out later this year.
- Windows 8. I'll be installing the beta in February. While the Ultrabooks are interesting, I think I'll hold off for the second generation at lower prices.
- Tablets. Rumors are that the new Apple iPad is due out in March and will have a higher resolution display. I'm happy with the iPad 2 and probably won't upgrade.
