CES 2015 and the flood of crap
Got a lot more posts going on lately because there is a lot of news related to things I'm interested in. And this is a fairly common occurrence this time of year because of CES. Lots of wild inventions, iterations and even more wild predictions and speculation.
One article was hailing a washer that has 2 drums and does two loads as being some sort of amazing innovation that will revolutionize that industry. While it is hard to say for certain, realistically, I think not. If I can do 2 loads in the washer, I also need to be able to dry two loads. Very few people I know care THAT much about how efficient their laundering process is and the cost is undoubtedly more than most people would pay for 2 separate washers (not that owning 2 separate washers is generally any more feasible). I just don't see it going anywhere.
Another article basically claimed Microsoft's new $29 Nokia phone will be a flop because it only has 2G and no WiFi. It mentions other devices available in the price range that don't offer 2G data but do offer WiFi. I'm not an industry expert... but I don't think residential internet, and thus WiFi, is a widely available option in the places this is aimed at. A slow 2G connection is better than a non-existent WiFi connection. Nokia also has a strong brand internationally and the price is competitive with the other devices mentioned. So, while I may not sweep the market, I don't think it is any less doomed than the other offerings.
Apparently Samsung echoed my thoughts that IoT devices need to all be able to communicate with each other. But, since no one seems willing to collaborate on standards at the moment, you can also kind of draw the conclusion that this will not be the year of IoT devices, even if CES shows off a lot of them. The two biggest tech giants today are not fans of open standards in a way that will help foster this growth. Apple explicitly rejects openness or collaboration and Google is generally fine with taking others open work but rarely contributes. The only major tech player interested in standards is Microsoft and they are doubly ignored when it comes to IoT devices and wearables.
Samsung is trying to combat this by releasing its own open platform. But I don't think they have the muscle in this field yet to try and force a standard. Kudos for trying though.
That's all I have for now, but the day just started, I'm sure there will be more.
One article was hailing a washer that has 2 drums and does two loads as being some sort of amazing innovation that will revolutionize that industry. While it is hard to say for certain, realistically, I think not. If I can do 2 loads in the washer, I also need to be able to dry two loads. Very few people I know care THAT much about how efficient their laundering process is and the cost is undoubtedly more than most people would pay for 2 separate washers (not that owning 2 separate washers is generally any more feasible). I just don't see it going anywhere.
Another article basically claimed Microsoft's new $29 Nokia phone will be a flop because it only has 2G and no WiFi. It mentions other devices available in the price range that don't offer 2G data but do offer WiFi. I'm not an industry expert... but I don't think residential internet, and thus WiFi, is a widely available option in the places this is aimed at. A slow 2G connection is better than a non-existent WiFi connection. Nokia also has a strong brand internationally and the price is competitive with the other devices mentioned. So, while I may not sweep the market, I don't think it is any less doomed than the other offerings.
Apparently Samsung echoed my thoughts that IoT devices need to all be able to communicate with each other. But, since no one seems willing to collaborate on standards at the moment, you can also kind of draw the conclusion that this will not be the year of IoT devices, even if CES shows off a lot of them. The two biggest tech giants today are not fans of open standards in a way that will help foster this growth. Apple explicitly rejects openness or collaboration and Google is generally fine with taking others open work but rarely contributes. The only major tech player interested in standards is Microsoft and they are doubly ignored when it comes to IoT devices and wearables.
Samsung is trying to combat this by releasing its own open platform. But I don't think they have the muscle in this field yet to try and force a standard. Kudos for trying though.
That's all I have for now, but the day just started, I'm sure there will be more.
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