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CES 2019’s Focus on the Superficial and Lack of Innovation Were Among Its Shortcomings

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Opinion: There was too much hype and not enough action to back it up.
Now that CES 2019 has ended, marketers are feverishly working to deliver presentations and POVs that justify the large contingents they sent to Las Vegas last week to chart the biggest innovative trends facing 2019. But the reality of CES 2019 is that it was not a year of “new.”
Now first, let me say this: I love CES. I’ve been going to CES for quite some time. My experience there was remarkably productive this year, and much of the credit for that belongs to the stellar team at the Consumer Technology Association. Year after year, they have managed to produce an event of stunning scale and immeasurable influence, perhaps the greatest show on earth. That’s no small feat.
However, I had hoped that CES 2019 would bring truly innovative, disruptive, transformational advances in areas like renewable energy, health and wellness or artificial intelligence and neuro-computing. The reality is that this year’s show gave us more hype than hope for the future of technology.
Here’s what was missing: Transformation
There are two types of shows that chart the evolution of consumer technology: those that transform and those that accelerate. A CES that is transformational is a CES where whole new categories are invented, major emerging trends are easily identified, and we see a quick parallel between what’s on the floor and what’s in a store. A CES that centers on acceleration is one where, instead of disruption, we see the incremental growth of technologies and trends.
We are far more interested in the micro-advancements of “stuff” and painfully disinterested in the real macro issues we are facing.
This was CES 2019. Nothing was really new; all the concepts evolved from years past.

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