Trends for 2019
In November, New York City hosted a preview of the colossal January Consumer Electronics Show (CES) event that is held annually in Las Vegas.
- CES 2019 expects to have a record of 4,500 exhibitors, including 1,200 startups, from over 150 global regions.
- These figures compare to last year’s event which attracted 3,900 exhibitors and 900 startups.
- In fact there were over 180,000 total attendees who congregated for CES 2018, of which one third were international, up 6 percent from the previous show. Many in the crowd are design and software engineers as well as IT workers who recommend and influence the purchase of new electronic devices for their companies as well as for personal use.
- Other trends uncovered in their latest market research were unveiled and included the following:
- Omni-shopping – buyers will increasingly shop and buy both in stores and online.
- Artificial Intelligence or AI – there is a long list of applications, and it keeps growing…increasing role in the workplace, factory automation, self-driving vehicles, biometrics/facial recognition, security, and many areas that require prediction and better forecasting.
- New chips are being developed exclusively for AI and new IoT — with the use of more AI, the “new IoT” or Intelligence of Things, will overtake the Internet of Things.
- 5G will be faster and have greater bandwidth to connect more THINGS — not just PEOPLE.
- New digital assistants will be more specialized in their function, e.g. banking, and integration of home appliances that will communicate with each other
- Smart Cities/ “Resilient tech” — when a city is under stress from either natural (floods) or man-made (cyberattacks) threats and needs to recover quickly, new technologies combining sensors with 5G networks will enable them to be more resilient. In some cases, AI, machine learning and IoT will assist in predicting when these events might occur as well as provide responses to recover quickly.
Innovation Awards — Winners and Honorees
This year, CES received a record number of entries from around the world that were judged by industry experts for their innovativeness. Many times, such “new” products introduced at the show are prototypes or modifications/minor upgrades to prior models.
One factor that should matter is whether an “innovation” truly helps people, either in their workplaces or personal lives. (NB – this might partly explain why E-cigarettes are not currently recognized as a category by CTA, the organization that runs CES)
Tools
- robboxtools showcased a few, clever, “all in one” (think “Swiss army knife”) products for both home and professional use. As Andrei Matei explained, they are developing a series of base units which can each hold a variety of attachments that eliminate the need to purchase and store multiple tools, batteries and chargers. For example, there is one unit for the home to which a user can attach a vacuum, a mop or even a car jack. For the garden, attachments include a hedge trimmer, a pressure washer, or a sprayer. robboxtools.com
Health and convenience
This year, a few companies provided remarkable entries.
- One that was impressive was a generator named “GENNY” that makes clean drinkable water “out of thin air”! But not only that, it also purifies the air at the same time. So it is like a dehumidifier and air filtration machine all in one. And it reduces the need to purchase bottled water.
- GENNY is a soon to be released home version of an industrial scale unit already being used by schools hospitals, and factories. http://water-gen.com
Automotive Tech
For 2019, the space dedicated to just “Transportation” alone will occupy the equivalent of 4 football fields!
- John Deere will be introducing autonomous tractors used for agriculture that utilize AI and machine learning. 2019 will mark the first year that non-consumer vehicles are on display at CES.
- BYTON – a prototype of this new electric car was shown at CES 2018. The plan it to have it produced in China for China by 2020. Andrew Hussey, Communications Manager said it will cost about $US 45K or 300K Chinese renminbi/yuan.
- The Byton will charge up enough in 20 minutes to be able to drive 150 miles, or in 30 minutes be able to drive 250 miles (400 km), or more than double that of any competition. https://www.byton.com/
- Bosch is partnering with several car manufacturers to introduce the concept of “perfectly keyless” car entry. According to Jack Murfett, Systems Engineer, a smartphone app will soon completely replace the need to carry a key/fob. So now there are more possibilities, including the capability to provide family and friends with the ability to open, start and drive your car, or for car rental companies to provide shared time and location limits of their vehicles, or for delivery companies to gain access to a car and place items in their trunks.
Even if the phone battery dies the app still functions since it relies on power from the device (in this case, the car) – similar to the strip code on a credit card, where a reader contains the energy source.
Media
- metavrse – this Canadian company introduced a self-serve platform that will allow print and media companies to add content via augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR). Julie Smithson, Co-Founder, explained that sellers will be able to better present ads that showcase their product’s appearance and attributes. https://metavrse.com/
Retail and b2b
- jd.com is China’s largest retailer, and third largest internet company in the world. In 2017, JD Logistics was launched in an effort to shorten the fulfillment process. At CES they revealed a delivery drone that can reach rural areas and an autonomous delivery vehicle being tested for urban settings. They even have self-driving trucks being piloted on specific routes.
There will be an update to this article shortly after the conclusion of CES 2019.
