consumer electronics

Consumer gizmos might get the same kind of regulatory attention as radio transmitters

8 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Bandwidth hog?

“There is no spectrum shortage, what we have is a spectrum utilisation problem”, said Austin Schlick, director of communications law at Google. Several solutions were offered as technology executives and policy makers talked about “slicing the nation’s airwaves” at CES this afternoon.

One suggestion that would have a major impact on consumer electronics companies, not to mention consumers, is to start regulating wireless receivers in something like the same way that the FCC regulates transmitters.… More

Samsung ditches phones, pitches 4K televisions at CES

7 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Samsung positions itself with curves.

Samsung is the dominant smart phone maker, accounting for around a third of annual unit sales world wide. But mobile isn’t at the top of its agenda at CES this year. It’s not introducing any new smart phones, preferring to save the buzz for the mobile industry’s powerhouse show next month in
Barcelona. “CES is traditionally a slower show for phones and such”, a company spokesman said.

Instead, Samsung is highlighting the increasingly also-ran television category, showing huge new ultra high definition screens – 4K capable it says – including prototypes that can curve and bend at a consumer’s whim.… More

Mobile innovation will continue to be the growth engine of consumer electronics

7 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Left to right: Vestberg, moderately bright moderator Andrew Keen, Jacobs, Donovan.

Qualcomm’s outgoing CEO, Paul Jacobs, Ericsson’s CEO Hans Vestberg and AT&T mobile executive John Donovan sat down on stage at CES this morning, for a conversation about the “global innovation of mobile”.

The longest view ahead came from Jacobs. “One thing that’s cool and scary and at the same time is neuromorphic computing”, he said. Qualcomm is trying to reverse engineer natural brains – starting with insects and working up to humans – to build computers with high cognitive functions that operate on relatively little energy.… More

Intel CEO's vision for a post-Windows world


Time for Linux and kin.

“This is a consumer show, like it or not”, said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, as he gave his maiden CES keynote talk last night. Judging by what he said (and didn’t say), the consumer electronics world is built on Linux and Android. His focus was on wearables.

“They don’t integrate all the features you want, you still had to have something else with you”, Krzanich said about smart watches and other wearables.… More

Qualcomm's CEO-elect backs away from Microsoft

6 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Mollenkopf prepares to step into the spotlight.

“We continue to be optimistic about the future of the Windows ecosystem”, said Steve Mollenkopf, the man picked to take over as CEO of Qualcomm, starting in March. He was responding to a question about Qualcomm’s relationship with Microsoft, during a refreshingly informal press conference at CES today.

What Mollenkopf didn’t say, though, was even more important.

When quizzed about Qualcomm’s ability to move beyond media consumption and into mobile productivity devices, such as the Windows tablets that have stalled in the marketplace, Mollenkopf talked up the benefits of supporting multiple operating systems – which Qualcomm vigorously does – and then started waxing poetic about the wonders of media consumption.… More

Huawei centers its brand on mobile

6 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Absolutely phablet.

“We are the number three smart phone manufacturer in the world”, declared Colin Giles, executive vice president of Huawei’s consumer business group. “We’re moving more into a connected world, and the center of the connected world is the smart phone”.

Huawei splashed out at CES this morning with a tightly produced press conference where two overarching messages came through clearly: mobile products drive the consumer electronics industry – neither Giles or CEO Richard Yu talked about anything else – and Huawei intends to build a global brand on top of its mobile products and technology.… More

Global tech market slips after peak geek in 2013

5 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Rising volume can’t keep up with falling prices.

Global consumer technology sales hit $1.1 trillion last year, but will slip back a few billion dollars in 2014. That’s the top line forecast from the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents the industry in the U.S. and organises CES, which is getting underway now in Las Vegas.

Smart phones and tablets have driven the market for the past four years, and are expected to account for 43% of global technology sales in 2014, dwarfing televisions and personal computers.… More

CES looking more like That 90s Show

1 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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“I just applied to Google’s internship program”.

Silicon Valley’s A-list companies of 20 years past are showing renewed enthusiasm for CES, which begins next week. It opens with a keynote presentation on Monday, 6 January 2014 by the new CEO of Intel, Brian Krznanich. I’m particularly interested in seeing if he’s still calling tablets and phones “ultra-mobile PCs”.

Last year, when the young and sexy mobile industry’s interest in the show was peaking, the lead off slot was taken by Qualcomm’s Paul Jacobs, who knows the difference between saying odd things to memorably drive home a point and just saying odd things.… More

Free updates power Apple's hunt for market share

12 November 2013 by Steve Blum
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Making waves with Mavericks.

Free is worth a two-thirds bump up in Internet traffic. At least if you’re Apple and you’ve decided to give away a new operating system and major apps to go with it. That’s one of the findings in Sandvine’s Global Internet Phenomena Report for the second half of 2013. The Ontario-based company tracks internet traffic around the world, and reports trends twice a year.

According to the report, when Apple released the Mavericks 10.9 version of OS X, an iOS 7 update and new iLife and iWork packages last month – all for free – traffic to its servers jumped to ten-times the normal level.… More

Looking for the Facebook of mobile medical platforms

26 October 2013 by Steve Blum
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With 26 million people – more than 8% of the population – in the U.S. suffering from diabetes, a device that wirelessly tracks blood glucose levels will find a ready market. Which is what iHealth is targeting with a new, networked glucose monitor that was previewed at Pepcom’s Holiday Spectacular in San Francisco last week. Piece by piece, this consumer oriented medical device maker is also building an online health and wellness management platform.

The monitor costs $80 and connects to an iOS or Android device via Bluetooth.… More