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January 08, 2005

CES: In praise of simplicity and in mourning for the lack of it

Rich and I just got back from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. And boy are we tired. Not from staying out incredibly late (which we will not confirm or deny), but from the truly dizzying array of stuff that we were baraged by at the show.

CNET has a guide to their favorite gadgets that they call "the next big thing." But frankly if there was a next big thing there we just couldn't find it, maybe it was covered up by all the confusing, varied interfaces and supposedly "converged" thingamabobs that no one could figure out how to use.

Seriously, Rich is much more of a gadget freak than me, but amongst either...

• the huge array of boxes that somehow stored all your movies, pictures, audio and computing wirelessly, or
• the phones that did music and photos and messaging and email, or * the game consoles that are also PDAs and heart monitors and remote controls, or even
• the auotomotive dvd, dvr, mp3 player, gprs navigational systems...

even he just couldn't seem to find anything that really seemed worth the effort.

Everything seemed to promise conversion but at the price of super complicated user interfaces, unsure connectivity and integration with the stuff you already have and at little clear compelling, life changing benefit. Personally I liked the display of stuff that took out stains and pressed clothes more easily. At least set-up was just putting in the batteries, the buttons made sense, and I knew what was supposed to happen when I pressed them.

There were more "things" at this show than any other I have been too. But what we saw most was what was not was there. It was striking that when I woke up in a haze the next morning trying to sort through what it all meant, that the USA today highlighted the same problem - "Incompatible tech confuses consumers." I think they really got it right. Outside of the iPod and the growing array of stuff that plugs nicely into it or enhances the experience around it, there was very, very little in the way of two things - simplicity or standards.

Without these two things it all continues to sound nice but end up being little more than expensive toys for hyper enthusiasts. Toys that are not likely to last, not likely to work together and not likely to get used by very many people. It was a testimony to the valuable role of industry leadership that makes it safer and easier for others to fall in line. When IBM, Intel and Microsoft first pushed forward the Wintel standards, boy what a differnce show like Comdex showed. Yes there was some lack of freedom but there was clarity and consistency for consumers and safety for lots of vendors to draft behind. And it was not just technology, it was the means of doing business. There really just did not seem to be any such platform emerging today in the consumer space.

In parallel the most striking thing was the lack of simplicity. In the search to cram more and more varied functionality into every kind of device, it really seemed that vendors forgot the real needs of mainstream users. The need to have things be obvious and clear. If you can't easily figure out how to do the terrific new thing then what use is it? In theory it seems great to have all kinds of content and applications on your phone or TV, but just try to really implement it. Wow. What a pain?

But really it is no wonder that everything is so complicated, without some kind of standards and standard bearers, folks are having to focus too much on bringing all kinds of parts and functions together and not just in plugging into the platform and making something witin it that really would appeal. Boy, I miss the time when even Microsoft's slogan was "Making it easier" and this kind of thinking was the guiding light of the industry. Will be looking for the next generation of leadership to emerge somewhere - from refreshed industry giants, new upstarts, coalitions of players, someone. Wonder what the forcing function will be for a new standard bearer to come to the fore?

Posted by johnza at January 8, 2005 03:29 PM

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» Disappointment at CES from NW Venture Voice
Guess I wasn't the only one disappointed with what I saw at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. * David Hornik was there and was happy to use it as a chance to meet people and look some really big TVs... [Read More]

Tracked on January 17, 2005 05:59 AM

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