IFA predicts 2011 gadget growth
The claim of Berlin’s International Radio Show (IFA) to be the biggest consumer electronics show in the world is fiercely contested by the Consumer Electronics Association in America, which organises the better known CES in Las Vegas.
But this week’s IFA is certainly better attended as well as being better timed than its January counterpart in terms of gauging what sort of year the industry is having and revealing what are the likely best-sellers in the upcoming holiday season. Read more
CES attendance is best in three years
The Consumer Electronics Show has closed its doors in Las Vegas for another year, with attendances back to 2008 levels, after two years of recovering from recession. It certainly felt like it was back to the good old bad old days – with long lines at bus stops, taxi stands and the monorail, crowded halls and crashing communications. Preliminary attendance estimates from the Consumer Electronics Association bear this out with more than 140,000 people visiting the four-day event. Read more
“You shouldn’t have to have a PhD as a consumer to be able to figure out how to get this stuff,” Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chairman and chief executive said at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Anyone trying to navigate through the forest of new entertainment devices and services unveiled at CES would sympathise, but for the media companies present the event served up a particularly complex mix of promise and challenges. Read more
Heading into its second official day, coverage for this year’s Consumer Electronics Show isn’t letting up. While our team has been updating from Las Vegas, and will continue to do so, let’s take a look around the web for what others have been talking about. Read more
Microsoft changes course in pursuit of iPad
Microsoft has outlined plans to adapt the next version of Windows for the low-power ARM processor architecture that already underpins the iPad. Steven Sinofsky, head of the Windows and Windows Live division, went onstage at CES in Las Vegas to lay out an important shift in Microsoft’s technology strategy (though, in an attempt to appease Intel and AMD, he also described this as a broader evolution that includes them.) Read more
OnStar has you in its rear-view mirror
Web-connected cars could be the next big thing, according to the steer we’re being given about CES announcements from the likes of Audi, Ford and Toyota this week. But you can even feel connected in an old banger, thanks to a rear-view mirror device launched by OnStar at a press conference on Tuesday night. Read more
Apps bring pressure to bear
The growing number of sensors in devices and the symbiotic relationship between the latest hardware and the apps that enrich them were picked out as 2011 CES trends to watch by analysts from the Consumer Electronics Association on Tuesday. Fitness, health and sporting activities are new areas being exploited – among the gadgets highlighted at the CEA’s opening press conference were Zeal Optics’ Transcend ski goggles, which feature a heads-up display as you race down the mountain, showing speed, distance covered, temperature and altitude – the latter statistic measured using a pressure sensor. Read more
No secret about where much of the attention will be directed when this year’s Consumer Electronics Show officially opens on Thursday in Las Vegas: tablet computers – lots of them. Click the link below to see our coverage of the early news around CES. And come back the rest of this week for updates from our team at the show, including live coverage of some of the big announcements. Read more
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Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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