Observations from the CES Floor: NBC, Comcast, Motorola Xoom and the New Company that Will Change TV Navigation - By Jack Myers

amp9658The new Motorola Xoom has widely been heralded as the most successful product innovation at this yearamp8217s Consumer Electronics Show and I agree but with a caveat The real winner was Google and its new Honeycomb Android operating system With multitasking Adobe Flash front camera dual core 20 MGz high definition and a comfortable size between the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Motorola and other manufacturers that are integrating Honeycomb are well positioned to give iPad a run for their money and to dull the recent success of Microsoftamp8217s Windows 7 tablet and smartphone productsIn this weekamp8217s Jack Myers Media Business Report headlined CES 2011 And the Walls Came Tumbling Down The Year CES Became a Content Show I share my insights on the implications of CES for marketers content producers agencies and media companiesamp8230 as well as investors With all the focus by technology companies on amp8220contentamp8221 and amp8220social mediaamp8221 there was a surprisingly low presence of traditional media companies The reason may be a broadcast industry backlash against the Consumer Electronics Associationamp8217s support and advocacy for FCC regulations that propose recapturing broadband spectrum from broadcast stations But with content all over the screens at the presentation booths of every major CE manufacturer the invisibility of broadcast networks and most cable networks at the show was notableamp9658NBCUamp8217s presence at CES appeared less impactful that last year when the Olympics were featured But at least NBC was there ABC Fox and DisneyABC had no presence at all and neither did any of the major cable groups the cable operators or the Hollywood studios In the future they will be there supporting the CE manufacturers who are carrying their content and selling to those who are not This yearamp8217s NBCU booth pointed out a company executive quothad more going on in terms of brands Syfy Thurs Bravo Fri Oxygen SatSun and programming amp8211 by far amp8211 than last year Maria Bartiromo did the entire Closing Bell broadcast for two straight days thatamp8217s four hours of TV live from our booth and had a parade of CEOamp8217s from technology and content companies on set LIVE Katzenberg Ballmer Stringer many others MSNBCamp8217s Your Business taped an entire techfocused episode CNBCamp8217s reporter Julia Boorstin did live hits for two straight days all tech focused Our stations group NEWSCHANNEL provided live and tape reports to the hundreds of NBC Stations amp8211 all CES focused MSNBC39s Tamron Hall anchored for two days amp8230 and while her first dayamp8217s coverage was largely interrupted by breaking news in Maryland Day Two was also tech focused And even Chris Matthews whose broadcast is about politics invited Maria onto his program to discuss technology and also talked about the nationamp8217s economy and techamp8217s role in the economy and the jobs situationamp9658Comcast and Time Warner Cable executives were touring the floor but they did not take advantage of the CES opportunity to explain their competitive value and difference to consumers and to the CE industry Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes appeared with Verizon chairman Ivan Seidenberg during his keynote address I understand Comcast is in a quiet period as they wait for final government approval of their NBCU acquisition But with so much focus on content distribution the cable industry will need to step up their presence at future CES showsamp9658I was blown away by only one technology demonstrated at the hidden booth of PrimeSense httpwwwprimesensecom where I spoke with president Aviad Maizels The Israeli company provides the technological backbone of Microsoftamp8217s Kinect service Iamp8217m convinced after seeing PrimeSense in action that the future of the television operating system is defined and clear Expect PrimeSense to soon announce a relationship with Intel which will exponentially accelerate the evolution to a one screen synchronous integrated TV Internet system Turn on the screen and up will pop your favorite apps free and paid With its front camera for Skype the TV will conduct a brief facial and body recognition process and deliver your personalized app screens With the slightest movement of your wrist and fingers youamp8217ll scroll through your apps point to open an app amp8220touchamp8221 the air in front of you to bring up the TV and online controls You can easily type on the keyboard and multitask Audio recognition built into the TV will identify the programming youamp8217re viewing and offer you the option to open officially sanctioned online content Of course youamp8217ll have full DVR social engagement checkin commerce and other applications all available seamlessly from your couch with just the flick of a wrist And youamp8217ll constantly receive the optin messages entitling sponsors and appunderwriters to information on your behavior in return for which youamp8217ll receive viewing credits incentives and prizesamp9658GE was relegated to a small booth in an outoftheway area GE was one of very few companies that focused on green education and other socially aware technologies within the consumer electronics spaceamp9658Toshiba bet the farm on Glasses Free 3D TV 3D received the biggest play at CES with a ubiquitous presence at booth after booth The companies that focused on glasses free 3D including Sony and Toshiba had their longest lines for these display areas We are still a couple of years away from true glasses free 3D but my best guess is that three to five years from now almost all TVs will have glasses free 3D technology with wide consumer adoptionamp9658Logitech made their bed with Google TV and focused their presentation booth on their relationship with Google TV While several manufacturers such as Sony also incorporated Google TV into their presentations but Logitech made it their central focus Unfortunately two weeks before show time Google TV announced a delay of their launch and asked companies to minimize their use of the Google TV platform Tough for Logitechamp9658XMSirius made a compelling presentation of its multiple platforms including a portable and aftermarket car product that should leave radio broadcasters quaking The National Association of Broadcasters meets here in Las Vegas in a couple months It will be interesting to compare the showsThe audience composition at CES is very heavily male centric amp8211 middle age and older Other than Asians the number of people of color was very low Over the next few years as the role of content and social media gains prominence in the consumer electronics industry the number of women younger people and people of color attending CES will hopefully increaseJack Myers can be reached at Jackmediadvisorygroupcom JackMyersThinkTank is free and underwritten as part of MediaBizBloggerscom by subscriptions to Jack Myers Media Business Report wwwjackmyerscom Subscribe free to all MediaBizBloggers reports at wwwMediaBizBloggers For Jack Myers Media Business Report subscription information visit wwwmyersreportcom or contact Jack Myers at Jackmediadvisorygroupcom Jack Myers and Media Advisory Group provide details on all underwriters and companies in which we have an investment at wwwjackmyerscom

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Observations from the CES Floor: NBC, Comcast, Motorola Xoom and the New Company that Will Change TV Navigation - By Jack Myers

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