The Connected Circuit

One of the biggest consumer electronics show (CES in Las Vegas from January 7th-January 11th) is going down this week, which also happens to overlap with another, the Macworld expo (January 5th-January 9th in San Fran). Don’t ask me why they decided to pick conflicting, making people choose to going to one or the other, which essentially hurts both parties. But enough of that, in this post I’ll be laying out some predictions of what I think will go down at each.

Since Macworld is here first:
There is also mounds of speculation for what Apple is going to do at Macworld, this being their last (for those who don’t know Macworld isn’t a creation of Apple, but rather Macworld Magazine) and all. So rumor has it Apple will be announcing new Mac Minis, Apple TVs and iPhone Nanos. Hardware-wise Apple will finally introduce new Mac Minis, Apple TVs and cinema displays or cinema displays equiped with the Apple TV hardware. But what I think will happen is that Apple is going to do a more software centric keynote, which will inevitably focus on its own iWork suite. They are going to take it into the cloud or create a system where you have the ability to, think about this. What is you have the ability to install on a corporate server a collaborative software suite, where all users within the network can work and access documents easily. Apple’s aim is mainly to infiltrate into the corporate environment, which Microsoft has them beat by a wide and large margin. With the impending exit of Steve Jobs as the face of Apple, they have to do something to push into new territories and I think this is what they are going to do.

CES:
CES is a whole ‘nother monster that encompasses such a wide range of consumer electronics that I’ll just keep it to general themes. The biggest theme for this show will probably be entertainment media in the living room, which will mean bridging online content, such as from Hulu, Netflix, Youtube and what have you to your TV. There is going to be a plethora of video streaming devices out there, since there isn’t really a great all-in-one out there yet. I have an Apple TV loaded with boxee, as well as an Xbox 360 setup to stream content from my computer through my personal network in my apartment. Both have their downsides and upsides, but neither is the be all end all of streaming devices. Having both work in unison achieves something close, but it still isn’t there yet, everyone always ultimately either asks me how to do what on the thing to get it to watch something or just plain gives up and goes back to the god awful Scientific Atlanta box that Time Warner has provided to watch absolute garbage on cable TV. The dream video device would do something very similar to my beloved Squeezebox Boom, but for Video, easy to use UI and just plain works, as well as be very modular in device, both in hardware and software. Apple’s closed ecosystem has led to no one wanting the Apple TV other than your enthusiasts, such as myself who will take the time and effort to soft/hard mod it to get it to do more for which boxee is a great example.

To complement all these devices, I see a plethora of content moving away from your traditional methods of broadcasting quickly. You can see it already happening with Hulu and all the contracts the major studios are considering with Youtube/Hulu and Sling Media. But what needs to happen is that these services need to be easily accessible. After seeing the success of Apple in the digital music market I’ve learned one thing, if you create something that is easy to use and at a reasonable cost people would be willing to not pirate and proceed in ways that are much easy to obtain the content they want. Apple hasn’t been as successful in the video market as they were in the audio, but that could all change if they open up and create a subscription based model. Think about the possibilities if they were to license out an API of their software and let people go at it with Apple’s name recognition the reach for digital video nirvana could be here within months. Sadly, I do not think Apple will ever adopt either.

I also predict that we will finally see a sub-100 bluray player for the masses to just buy that Dark Knight Bluray and watch it in all its 1080p glory.

To sum it up:
Macworld: Taking applications into the cloud and the corporate workspace
CES: Convergence video devices, bluray player on the cheap

--written by Peter To--