digital lab ces recap -- everything brands and marketers need to know
TRANSCRIPT
The Next Frontier #CES2015
Talk about a transformation! CES 2015 fundamentally shook the foundations of what we consider to be consumer electronics, and marked the beginning of a new era for the show. This year, we saw the show depart from its historical focus on screens and appliances, and extend its reach into every possible realm of human life: travel, fashion, food, entertainment, health, and more. With all of the devices in our lives quickly becoming connected to the cloud, we saw brands emerge at CES 2015 that we might never have noticed in years past, in categories ranging from luxury jewelry to home improvement.
For brands and marketers visiting the show, this rapid expansion should be seen as an indication of how deeply and digitally entwined we have become with the connected world around us, and how rapidly the human experience has evolved over just the past two years. In our preview of CES, we outlined 5 key trends that we would be watching over the course of the show, including the Internet of Things, Wearables, Connected Cars, Virtual Reality, and Mobility. This recap delves into each of those categories, focusing on highlight technologies that we saw on the show floor.
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The Internet of Things.
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It would be a gross oversimplification to say that the Internet of Things (IoT) was just one of five trends at CES. Rather, the Internet of Things was the umbrella trend that encompassed almost every aspect of the show. This year, we saw the IoT category blossom to include almost any kind of object that humans can make – right on track to meet the 50 billion items that Cisco recently predicted will be connected by 2020. We also saw the IoT become more affordable, so look for average consumers to begin embracing connected items and homes over the course of 2015.
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An important obstacle to note for the IoT: we still have not seen a dominant player for IoT networks and hubs emerge from the still nascent market. The big players are still developing their platforms and strengthening their partnerships with device makers, but until we see a few key players emerge – which they will – some consumers may be hesitant to purchase IoT products that might not be universally compatible with competitor hubs and IoT networks. Still, for brands, now is the time to begin forming early partnerships with device makers. Here are some of our favorite IoT technologies:
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Adidas: Smart Ball
The Gatorade smart bottle encourages you to pee often and in plenty. In terms of bringing the IoT to unlikely (but oddly useful) places, Adidas gets a big nod for introducing its smart ball, a football that that can collect a range of information on how it is being handled. The device provides a previously untapped range of data, and may be used by coaches and TV networks alike. (Imagine having the ball’s data fed to the top right corner of the broadcast.)
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Lowe’s: Iris
Iris by Lowe’s exhibited a fully connected home on sight at the show floor, replete with over 50 connected devices, including window shades, floor vents, refrigerators, and fireplaces. Iris is a serious step forward in the connected home, as it is positioned and committed to being the first affordable solution for everyday consumers.
Smart light bulbs are already well established consumer products, with big name players like GE and Phillips having entered the market. Sengled is a company that continues to innovate in this space, bringing new functionalities and capabilities to the connected bulb. Sengled light bulbs can double as home WiFi boosters, bluetooth speakers, and even security cameras.
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Sengled: Snap
Wearables.
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The wearables category is being driven by our interest in health, fitness, and sleep monitoring, and to this point has been dominated by wristwear, a sub-category that is soon to be disrupted by Apple Watch. However, one step onto the Sands Tech West floor revealed a sea of wearable devices of all kinds, shapes and styles. We saw headwear, eyewear, wristwear, smart clothing and footwear, all positioned to be the gateway into constant and seamless biometric tracking. We also saw the category diversify to include luxury items that are meant to be fashionable first and connected second.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle”
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Withings: Activate POP
Until CES 2015, the wearables category was known more for its utility and less for its beauty. But this year, we saw the technology that powers wearable devices shrink to the point where it can be embedded in elegant devices. Withings, for instance, displayed a smartwatch with a full set of utilities that was also sleek and decidedly “non-techie.”
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle”
Swarovski took wearable tech beauty to another level of luxury with its Misfit collection, the first wearables jewelry to be targeted purely at women. As their floor reps described, their products are “beauty first, utility second.” But Swarovski also managed to sneak in some incredible technology into the wearable jewelry, engineering the device to run only on solar power.
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Swarovski: Misfit Collection
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle”
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Skulpt: Aim
Many wearables on the floor were dedicated to fitness monitoring, and tracked an array of biometric data that we’ve come to expect from our wearables. However, the Skulpt Aim is the world’s first device to measure muscle quality (MQ) and body fat percentage with sensors that are 5x more accurate than existing body composition technology. We expect to see more wearables pushing the boundaries of what kinds of bodily measurements we can take.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle”
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Muse: The Brain-Sensing Headband
Just as exercise allows you to improve physical fitness, Brain Muse allows you to improve mental fitness. Using a training routine of focused-attention exercises, Muse headband helps you feel calmer and more composed by identifying your distractions and realigning your focus and concentration.
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Connected Cars.
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Connected Cars.
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Perhaps more than any other category, connected cars took a giant leap forward, both in terms of their feasibility and their relevance to marketers. A fully autonomous, self-driving car may still be a long way from public roads, but CES 2015 gave us a glimpse into the steps it will take to achieve a self-driving car, as well as the human behaviors that may adapt once cars are able to contextualize the world around them. CES also gave us glimpses into how brands and marketers might be able to tap into connected cars and their human passengers.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle” Mercedes-Benz: Luxury in Motion
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Mercedes-Benz stole the show with the unveiling of the F 015 Luxury in Motion, a research and concept vehicle that is meant to inspire the future of automaking. The car is a luxury living room on wheels, featuring swivel chairs and surround screens. For brands, the driverless F 015 gives an insight into how they might reach screen-surrounded commuting consumers with more attention to spare.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle” Onstar: AtYourService
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AtYourService — an OnStar feature — enables “information, convenience and money-saving values” to be automatically delivered to your car based on location tracking. It uses the destinations that you enter to trigger the promotions that are delivered. For instance, if you are going to Starbucks, an OnStar advisor can send a great coffee deal straight to your dashboard.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle” Bosch: Drivelog
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If humans can now track their health, why shouldn’t cars be able to do so as well? This year at CES, Bosch displayed “Drivelog,” a platform that gives cars the ability to monitor their performance, track fuel consumption and provide real-time diagnostics. The system even has the ability to communicate data to insurance companies and dealers.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle” Nvidia: Drive PX Deep Learning
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One of the first steps towards fully autonomous cars is giving them the ability to sense and make sense of the world around them. Graphics processing company, Nvidia, presented Drive PX Deep Learning, a technology that essentially gives eyesight to the formerly blind car by allowing them to distinguish vehicles and signs on the road.
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Virtual Reality. Drive
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Virtual reality was noticeable at CES 2015, if only for the sheer number of players beginning to enter the field. Although Oculus is undoubtedly the dominant player in terms of headsets–and drew a large degree of attention– the category also demonstrated its range with body trackers, immersive eyewear, and consumer-ready, 360-degree video recording devices. The field is still nascent, and it would be optimistic to predict that VR will significantly expand its mainstream consumer reach within the year. However, this is a positive for brands, who can look at VR as a way of creating novel experiences for consumers.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle” ODG: Smartglasses
The line between wearable eyewear and VR is blurring, with companies like ODG unveiling smartglasses that encroach on what VR headsets already deliver. The company describes its products as falling somewhere between Google Glass and the Oculus Rift–more immersive than Glass, but less so than Oculus. It is not hard to envision a product that could one day deliver both in one small unit.
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Part of what made virtual reality so exciting at CES this year was its expansion beyond eyewear. The Sixense “Stem System” allows users to combine immersive eyewear with wearable technology, giving gamers the sense that they are physically manipulating objects in a game. Imagine wielding a “physical” lightsaber in a virtual reality Star Wars setting.
Sixense: Stem
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Onstar: “At your service”
One of the keys to emerging technology is consumer accessibility. The Giroptic 360 Cam stood out for us because it allows users to take quality 360 degree footage that can be enjoyed best on a VR headset. Imagine being able to film experiences–like a roller coaster ride–and then being able to share them in their full glory with a friend sporting a VR headset.
Giroptic: 360 Cam
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Mobility.
Though we can expect a number of new smartphones and tablets this year,
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Mobility.
Though we can expect a number of new smartphones and tablets this year,
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There were plenty of great smartphones on display at CES, but the phones themselves were hardly the point. Rather, this year’s CES was about increasing the reach and power of our mobile devices. Payments and security, an important theme, were discussed in the show’s various panels, but the show floor itself was about showing off the incredible creative and industrial power that now resides in so many of our phones.
One technology that stood out to the Lab crew was Estar’s “Takee 1,” a smartphone built with 3D holographic technology that allows users to effectively look “into” their phones. It may be a while before this kind of technology ever finds its way into the smartphones of big players like Apple or Samsung, but it is a glimpse into the kinds of experiences that may soon be capable on our mobile devices.
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle” Estar: Takee 1
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Gatorade: “Smart Bottle”
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Developed through Tel Aviv University and debuting at CES 2015, StoreDot batteries feature NanoDots, ‘tiny naturally occuring crystals’ that pass energy into your lithium battery at unprecedented speeds, allowing a full charge in less than two minutes. A technology like this could pave the way for an ‘always powered’ future, one in which we no longer stress over charging opportunities.
Storedot: Next Generation Battery
Gatorade: “Smart Bottle” Lenovo: Selfie Flash
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A surprisingly simple and effective product, the Selfie Flash is exactly what it sounds like – a front facing flash for taking selfies. Lenovo realized the problem of poor lighting on selfies and offered this brilliant solution…at just $29. Is it a giant technological leap forward? Probably not. But it is an elegant solution to a current consumer challenge.
IN CONCLUSION: As we predicted in our preview of CES 2015, this year’s show was one of evolutions rather than revolutions in the key categories that we described. These evolutions, however, were significant, with some of these categories doubling and even tripling in size compared to last year. Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this year’s show was the fact that many of the technologies we saw were meant to augment the human experience rather than to disrupt it or simply entertain. These technologies are meant to be so small, hidden, and unobtrusive, that you forget how powerful they truly are. This is a trend that we will likely see continue throughout 2015.
CONTACT: Daniel Charness [email protected]