Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show (CES)

CES will take place at Cosmopolitan Hotel Las Vegas on Monday, January 5 and Tuesday, January 6. This two-day event is the largest of its kind in North America, focused exclusively on the business of apps and the broader consumer app economy. The mission of APPNATION is to help app developers of all shapes and sizes build great businesses through inspiring conferences, topical roundtable discussions and deep-dive workshops that deliver actionable advice and best practices.

The theme of this year's event is: "Discover. Acquire. Monetize".  APPNATION reaches the full long-tail of app developers and publishers from the cool indies all the way up through the largest brands and companies in the world.
APPNATION moving to CES which is a great opportunity for developers of all shapes-and-sizes to meet their peers at APPNATION but also have the opportunity to engage with the global consumer electronics industry as CES attracts over 160,000 attendees and thousands of hardware and content companies as well as leading marketers and ad agencies.

As you know, virtually all consumer electronic devices will ultimately be "connected" and this is a unique opportunity to bring the global connected device, content, marketing, and consumer app communities together to network, develop partnerships, and explore new business opportunities. 

More than 3,500 firms will exhibit new wares at this years' International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, on top of the many others there for more private show-and-tells. Despite questions about the event's relevance in an age when tech firms stage big-budget unveils of their own, CES still pulls a huge crowd.

"It's still the most important event in the calendar across the broader technology landscape," says consultant Ben Keen from IHS Technology, who thinks this might be the 20th time he's attended. "In the old days it was very much about what we're called brown goods - everything around the TV set and related technologies. But now, it's quite extraordinary how many sectors converge."

Auto Gurus

A glance at the keynote speaker line up shows more car manufacturers than ever. From Ford to Mercedes-Benz, car technology is likely to continue its long march to try to keep up with the rapid pace of technology development driven by the smartphone world. Last year saw electric and hybrid cars. This year promises more self-driving prototypes, all technically capable of ferrying passengers around without interaction but held back by laws and concerns about who pays when something goes wrong.

While Google, the UK and others attempt to smooth out those issues, CES 2015 promises to be the year that ordinary consumers will be able to get their hands on a smartcar, packed with Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s CarPlay, banishing the ancient systems most will be used to. Their smarts will be limited to entertainment and navigation, rather than self-driving or anything related to actually piloting the vehicle. One step at a time.

Innovations in mobile and TV

Android isn’t only going to invade cars this year. CES 2015 promises to herald in the rise of Android TV, Google’s second attempt at creating a smart TV platform after the failure of the confusing and poorly implemented Google TV devices from 2010. Android TV builds on the success of Google’s Chromecast streaming device, attempting to bring a smartphone-like experience to the TV rather than attempting to recreate a PC in the living room.

A raft of manufacturers are expected to release new TVs with Android TV built-in. Google has a chance to unify the befuddled mess of smart TV platforms that currently exists and make apps on a television something consumers might actually want to use rather than simply ignore. Living room screens are one of CES's biggest draws. After the fuss about bendable sets last time round, the focus should be back on picture quality this time. LG has already revealed it will introduce quantum dot tech to its 4K ultra high-definition line-up.

This involves using tiny crystals - some of which are 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair - to create images, which the firm says results in 30% better colour accuracy than conventional LCD TVs. Sony has previously used quantum dots in its Triluminos-branded TVs, but LG boasts that unlike its Japanese rival it has been able to do so without involving the toxic substance cadmium - which should make its sets more eco-friendly.

 

Wearables

This year is set to be the year when wearable technology finally hits the mainstream. While CES is undoubtedly going to be stuffed to the rafters with smartwatches, the innovation that will make or break wearable technology is the price. The sensors and technology needed to make the gadgets work is coming down in price, meaning devices capable of tracking movement, activity, heart rate and even sleep are now within impulse-buying territory and well under £50. “The biggest challenge manufacturers must solve is how to make wearable devices more appealing to the average consumer,” said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

“We need to move beyond ugly black plastic devices designed by middle-aged male engineers. Wearables should be comfortable and fashionable, and I’m expecting some high-profile partnerships between technology companies and fashion brands to come out of CES.” More than 40m smartwatches and fitness bands expected to ship in 2015, according to CCS Insight’s data. CES will give us a steer as to where wearables go next, whether it’s the wrist, smartglasses, fitness trackers or beyond gadgets into smartclothing.

 

Everything connected

Beyond such exciting things, the inevitable march of curved TVs and 4K high-definition is likely to continue – one a gimmick, the other still lacking content – and that’s not to mention the platoon-full of tablets, smartphones, computers, cameras, bluetooth speakers and drones for both toys and photography. And that’s not to mention the “internet of things” (IoT) – a buzzword that has long promised to turn all our dumb appliances about the home, work and environment into an internet-connected mesh of devices all capable of talking to each other, and the people occupying their space.

“The whole arena continues to expand, but a grand vision remains elusive,” said Martin Garner, connected devices and internet researcher with CCS Insight. “The market’s being held back by immature products, fragmented standards and ill-defined ideas about how we should be using connected things.” Will CES 2015 finally herald something tangible from the years of hype? The lights will certainly be bright in Vegas as CES rolls into town.

But while every CES has promised to be bigger than the last, 2015 might just be the year when the technology industry wakes up to the fact that the excesses of the gambling capital of the world don’t quite fit with reality any more. Or perhaps not. CES is where culture meets code. The VCR was launched at CES in 1970, Nintendo debuted in 1985, HDTV and DVR technologies were unveiled in 1998 and tablets came to us in 2010. What culture-changing technology will be unleashed at this year’s event? We can’t wait to find out.