CES Is the World's Greatest Hardware Show Stuck in a Software Era

wired.com

19 pointsPr04 comments

The real magic of CES isn't any new products that come out, it's the relationships. A supplier meets a manufacturer. Sometime later it shows up in the new must have gadget.

That's the point... There aren't any new must have gadgets anymore, because they're now apps.

The apps have to run on something. Apple is one of the largest companies in the world by making some of that hardware. Yet, Apple's hardware is assembled by another company and is made up on components from hundreds of other companies, most you have never heard of. Those companies are all at CES and are all fighting unseen battles for the next generation of electronics. There's no need to have a flashy keynote or booth babes, but the back conference rooms are where the real CES is.

What I cannot really understand is why would you go there to make new releases of hardware when everyone is doing exactly the same bombastic releases. It becomes almost like a cook fight, and ultimately it dilutes your news.

I think what Apple (and also now Google, Facebook..) does by having their own event, it's a much better approach. Of course this is something you can only do with size.

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