An eye on CES 2011

 

CES is the Consumer Electronics Show exhibit in Las Vegas.

Thanks to the web I am able to report some comments on this even if I did not have the chance to participate.

There have been lot of mobile, lot of TV and lot of mobile and internet TV.

Portability is the winner. Yes, nice audio stuff, and great 3D screens from Sony, but I’d really focus on portable stuff. Among wireless handsets, Android largely won. In fact, everybody can do a decent product using Android as a platform.

And that is the first big risk on buying Android powered crap .On the contrary, the pairing of high-end hardware with Android and high speed connectivity (LTE) can generate literally technology jewels. As from the rapid view of products presented, I have seen that Mobile Digital TV products looks crappy compared with Internet TV tablets.

But if bandwidth is the issue, is Internet TV the final direction or for real time broadcasting the pairing of a DTV togheter with a radio recevier can be a successful solution? Will these two worlds collide or one will bite the other?

The DVB receiver is still the key to keep broadcasters independent from mobile pipes..ehm..operators.

Will they succeed now that screens are much bigger (and platforms and hardware has evolved)?

Please note: DVB is established (even in Italy), and you just need a basic dongle and an app to pimp any device having a USB port with it.

Nevertheless, there are no apps working with tuner equipped devices or mediacenters.

Maybe just because mediacenters and devices simply do not have a tuner, uh?

Bundling again…

For “just” 179 euro (when common price is around 20…) Vodafone proposes its DTT solution named Vodafone TV Connect.

Of course it’s not just a digital decoder, it’s also a wi-fi bridge to the VF station in order to activate radio connectivity and feed the irresistible meteo and zodiac widgets embedded.

Yet another great invention: putting togheter a decoder, a media reader, TV screen and VF station.

You might think this would have been a great chance to open a new business channel. But it’s not (yet).

You might think they could boost their decoder with funny apps and widgets working as ads to 3rd parties or making e-commerce available directly from the decoder. You might think they could have given the Decoder for free simply selling3rd parties the possibility to add widgets, and creating a new way to promote the Vodafone brand for people needing to switch to digital.

They didn’t.