1
CES | Las Vegas 2016 Trends Strictly Confidential 12.01.16
2
CES 2016 A designer’s perspective CES is the biggest Consumer Electronics Show in the world, and it is where you will see what technology will shape our world and bring to our lives in the future: Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, the smart house, the autonomous car, everything connected to everything and everything wireless. It is an intoxicating mix of new ideas from small start up companies like the Bluetooth keyless padlock from Noke, to some groundbreaking ideas from the major players like the transparent TV from Panasonic. It is a huge show, with nearly 200,000 trade visitors and 4,000 exhibitors, I have highlighted a few of the things I found interesting, along with a few themes that were quite evident from this year’s show.
CONNECTED ELECTRIC CARS
3
More and more car makers are making a big deal out of CES, launching new models and investing heavily in new concept cars specifically for the show, to the point where the North hall has become a mini car show. Nearly every carmaker had an electric car or electric concept car, which were connected to the phone house etc, and there was also a lot of investment into artificial intelligence as we move towards the autonomous vehicle.
FUTURE FARADAY stole the show with the launch of their concept car. Future Faraday is a start up company funded by LETV, the Chinese version of Netflix, Future Faraday has its headquarters in LA and is looking to produce its electric cars in the Las Vegas area, the intention is for the cars to be sold both for private and communal use. The concept car really was impressive, the designer Nick Gronenthal had carte blanche and made the most of it. A single seater, with group C racing car type architecture the vehicle looked like it belonged in a futuristic super-hero movie, it overflowed with strong design themes with all the bells and whistles. The attention to detail and quality of the execution was outstanding. It will be very interesting to see the production car, of which there was no announcement.
4
AUDI – the most impressive thing apart from the stand design was the hap tic feedback clicking sensation they have developed for the in car touch screens. They had on display an impressive concept dash which hosted 2 large touch screens and a Head Up Display instrument panel, the touch screens were easily configured and customisable, and when selecting a menu item the clicking feeling on the large panel was extremely convincing, and would be very useful when driving. Audi interestingly also have developed their own android tablet which will be used for entertainment and will be able to connect to the car, they also have developed a smart watch with LG which will start the car with a single tap.
5
MERCEDES – The future of their interface design was on show, and was particularly well resolved with twin navigation keypads accessible to each thumb on the steering wheel, which you can control every aspect of the cars interface. The Mercedes concept electric car was beautifully designed with a bold front and rear and soft sculpted sensual sides. The interior although interesting, was not designed to the high standard of the exterior, with rather dubious pink and blue accent lighting which would have been more appropriate on the Vegas strip.
6
VW - The Volkswagen BUDD-E an electric concept “bus� which connects to your phone, house office etc was a little less than convincing. The styling was a bit dry and scholastic, it did have an interesting layout, which was actually a seating arrangement I explored during my intern at Volkswagen/Audi in Simi Valley back in 1993! Toyota, Kia, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford and a number of smaller car makers also had concepts and electric cars at the show, which ranged from the mundane to the bizarre.
7
OUTDOOR ACTIVE As the technologies have matured so too have the products, which become more relevant to the customers lifestyles, rather than just about the technology. There are products now specifically aimed at different lifestyles, and one that was omnipresent at the show was “outdoor active� including watches, tablets, Bluetooth speakers, headsets, cases and various other outdoor devices. Skullcandy, UAG, ifamily, braven, Casio, Panasonic, Ecoxgear
8
WEARABLES Wearables has been a buzz word for the next big thing to hit the consumer market, but they have struggled to make the impact that has been predicted, apart from a select few like Fitbit, and the professional sport sensors. The reasons being that there has not been a need, they are not solving a clear problem we have in our lives; secondly, the technology has been bulky and few have been designed as personal accessories, but more like functional products, even the apple device does not hit the desirability spot, and lastly the battery technology still means they have to be recharged relatively frequently which adds to their slow acceptance by the market. But things are starting to change (slowly), there are a few more relevant products which are better designed and have less of a need for constant charging, the Casio rugged smart watch looks good, Misfit had some simple yet endearing designs which look more like jewellery, and there are other parts of the body that wearables are starting to target like sports bras, pants, socks and trainers. Key brands include: Fitbit, Digitsole, in+motion, Missfit, Romy, Cera Cor,Fossil
9
SMART HOME Like wearables, the smart connected home is promised to be the next big thing with Samsung announcing that by 2020 all of its products will be connected, so that you can fry your chicken, check your stock of peeled tomatoes and dim the lights all from your smart watch. The technology is all there to do all of these things, but the question remains how much do we need it and how much are we prepared to pay for it. Fully connected security systems, especially in certain areas of the world are already widely used, but as with many new technologies, it will take time to gain momentum but once certain solutions gain enough critical mass prices will lower and they will start to become the norm, so one day we will be all be controling everything from our personal devices and we will have robots cleaning the floors. Key brands include Amazon, Nest, Philips, Smart Button, Triby Invoxia, LG and Samsung
10
VIRTUAL and AUGMENTED REALITY The first VR headset to arrive on the open market will be the Oculus rift early this year ay $599, so for a while this will be an early adopter only market. However the application of VR and AR will for gaming, entertainment and for the workplace is clear. I have tried several headsets, but the Gopro headset which cleverly stitches together the feed from 6 spherical cameras gives a complete surround image a truly immersive sensation. Key brands include Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Next VR, Gopro
11
There were many other very interesting concepts, ideas and products presented at CES, from the driverless car to powering devices remotely, not all of the ideas will be a success but one thing is clear, if you get the right combination of product, technology and an application where there is a clear need, and you are in the market early, there is an opportunity of big successes. There are still good margins in consumer electronics, and it’s a market where fortune favours the brave. Looking forward to next year