CES 2016: The Toaster-Fridge Awakens—in 4K HDR!

Apple does it too: http://www.cnet.com/news/time-is-money-apple-pays-21m-for-clock-design-s... So just stahp already.

A) Your example is a Red Herring; providing an example in which Apple was guilty of misappropriating the design work of others in no way disproves the fact that, in some specific cases, other companies are guilty of stealing from Apple in the exact same manner. (The difference, of course, is that Apple owned up to it; I won't be holding my breath for Lenovo to cough up royalties for pasting their logo on top of Apple's marketing materials.) B) Upon re-reading the article, I find your original plea to not "rattle the 'everyone steals from Apple' saber" is completely invalid anyway! The article very specifically DOESN'T make any such claim: "...I am talking about the Apple presence shown, in every device I see, inspired by everything from Macbook to Apple Watch. If you're going to steal, only steal from the best. That homage is ok for me, though." The words "inspired by" and "homage" make it more than clear that the word "steal" is being used here in a loose, informal manner. C) Dammit, that's 10m of my life I'll never get back. Now I feel dirty: http://xkcd.com/386/. Ugh.

The Internet of Toaster-Fridges.
It's here. Now.

"by this time next year more than one company won't be around."
That's a pretty bold claim for a market that's been around at least 5 years. What will make it blow up next year? Why are activity trackers any more likely to be at the back of a drawer this year than last or the one before that? We'll be back at CES 2017 to see just how wrong you are.

I'd say the thing that makes it more true this year than last year is that more people are getting them as an "it's like an Apple Watch but it cost less" than as activity frackers. They're not bad devices, but the people who they become sticky with buy them for the device they are, not the device they aren't.

True, more people might be buying them as a cheap Apple-watch-like thing, but I still don't see how that will lead to the complete collapse of competition in the market and one solitary company selling them by this time next year.
It seems to me that there is already critical mass for a few companies and that people who use them in the way they are intended will continue to find utility in them. When devices break or when new models come out, users are likely to stick withe the brand that has all their historical data, so there being one fitness tracker company in 12 months time just doesn't seem plausible.

I didn't read it that only one would survive but that a few companies won't be around next CES. As more companies get in on the industry we've already seen some falter and exit, i.e. Nike.

I almost think it's in reverse. That the Apple Watch is like a fitbit but with a few more features.

trackers? Its just maturing... The ipad has dropping sales yet devices in use I am sure are still slightly increasing. But companies run on sales not installed base and usage. For those that this is their primary product its just impossible to support/subsidize.

So essential your take on CES is it is full of a bunch of junk and Apple copycats? You said it made you smile but did anything at least inspire you a little or peak your interest?

So essential your take on CES is it is full of a bunch of junk and Apple copycats? You said it made you smile but did anything at least inspire you a little or peak your interest?

Typical Apple fanboyism, and especially from a former Apple exec it is not surprising. Attack every other company for having something new, and then whine and complain about how they copy Apple. Deride the quality of other company's products, then call anyone who may have problems with an Apple product a hater. Have the snobbish, higher-than-thou attitude of the Apple elitist, and then go into the gutter when you see something as a threat to Apple. Just as Steve Jobs can be seen saying "Good artists copy, great artists steal" and use that motto to take whatever tech, design, product name, etc. then send Jony Ive out to whine and cry about how everyone steals from Apple. Thing no body needs or wants - you mean like cars? How about UHD video? I know, Apple TV doesn't support 4K yet so nobody wants nor needs it until Apple tells us we want or need it. Of course, they did tell us we want and need it, when they told us how great it was the iPhone 6 supports 4K recording. Drones are bad because they infringe on our privacy, but then Apple leaks all our SMS messages around when we switch phones. Fitness trackers are junk, so buy that Apple Watch everyone, because it is the best fitness tracker around! In a few years Apple will have all that you complain about not being new, but will be innovative, magical and amazing. You will forget all that you wrote here, and ***** (that was censored, was another name for prostitute) yourself out to Apple to gin up their sales. Remember those books that nobody reads, until Steve himself invented reading on a tablet? it is happening all over again, deride, defame, attack, until Apple "invents" it. My prediction - CarPlay will have Apple Keynote support in the next version so you can read your presentations from your iPad Pro (which is not a copy in any way of a Surface Pro, nope not at all. Of course how much did you attack the SP as being useless until the iPP was released?). So tell us, how much Apple stock do you own?

Are you saying you do NOT own Apple stock? I don't think it's wise to advertise such a lack of foresight, it doesn't speak well to your predictive abilities going forward.

Apple has been flat-lining lately, and so has Google, and so has Microsoft.....
The only times these companies get a stock boost is around a new product release. Then everybody holds on for a while then sells, then buys again right before a product release.
I'm looking at the stocks right now. Tell me I'm wrong.
Owning Apple stock right now isn't good. And I'd prefer Alphabet stock. Especially with GoogleX getting a lot of their products close to consumer-ready (Ara, driverless cars, etc).
So if you do NOT own Apple stock, a company that isn't preparing more than the 3 listed above (I can confirm some top-secret projects that are getting ready to be released in the next couple of years), you're probably a bit wiser if that money instead is going towards GOOG or GOOGL.
Unless you're looking to speculate :)

So that is what you got from what I wrote, the question about how much stock the writer owns? Not about you have a guy who used to be a high level Apple marketing manager, not how if it were some company exec (current or past) saying this about Apple the Apple fans would be out in droves for the unprovoked attack on poor, poor Apple, not how a former high-level Apple exec is calling for the end of companies that Apple is, or rumored to be, in competition with? We have seen numerous comments on other "news" web sites how any negative comments about Apple is looked at as a way of manipulating Apple stock so they can make a quick buck in the market, but an article about how "every company's product sucks, but Apple will step in and save the day" from someone who obviously owns Apple stock is perfectly fine? This is hack journalism at its finest, generating fear over other companies to make sure that we glorify Apple in any way possible. Mobile nations should be ashamed of publishing this, usually hey publish articles about how each site's favorite is great, but this is about tearing down possible competition to give Apple a leg up. Not only that, but it has been published across all the sister sites. I don't see more publishing links telling us to drop Apple and switch to Microsoft or Google, and I wouldn't expect it from imore. Imagine if windows central were to publish an article from Steven Sinofsky were to publish an article telling people to stop buying the iPad Pro and buy a Surface Pro, and then imore told everyone to read the article because it held a lot of truth behind it.

That is an interesting analysis. I agree with several points. Why would anyone even use Microsoft Office in a car? That's the dumbest idea I've heard in a long time. I can just picture the following: "Sorry officer for rear-ending that car. I was working on my Excel spreadsheet." Posted via the iMore App for Android

They could have been using Google Docs or Apple Works instead.

I used to go to CES every year for several years in a row, I only stopped going last year... it really seemed like nothing at all relevant was going on there. At least one large company I was working with stopped going last year because it was crazy expensive and they didn't see the value of it anymore... I don't understand why companies continue to throw large sums of money in attending something so few people pay attention to anymore. Companies could get a lot vaster buzz simply by paying for space in a mall for a month in every large city in America... probably for a lot less money.

4K HDR is dooooooomed!
Oh the irony

It's kind of funny when he says, "In the '80s and '90s, it was a venue for great technology intros such as the CD (1981), the DVD, (1986) and HDTV (1998)." Those announcements were 5 and 12 years apart. So there were 3 years with big announcements and 15 years with no big announcements. It reminds me of the tech press that kept complaining when Apple was not announcing their next iPhone/iPad even though it had only been a few years since one of those products had been introduced. Big ideas are not something that can or should be seen every year. The off years are the norm and if they aren't worthwhile then why does the press cover them? Personally, I think there is probably value in attending CES simply to learn about the subtle changes that will lead to the next big thing, to reconnect with colleagues in the press, or to find something that others missed and write about that great discovery. However, when I read this article I can't help but think the author isn't interested in any of those things, and I wonder why he bothered to attend at all.The CD was introduced in 1981 but I don't remember buying my first CD player until around 1986. And I was a DJ at the time. And the DVD may have been introduced in 1986 but VHS was still my mainstay for buying movies until around a decade later. I was definitely not an early adopter on the HDTV since I didn't buy my first until almost 10 years after it was introduced! The CD was introduced in 1981 but I don't remember buying my first CD player until around 1986. And I was a DJ at the time. And the DVD may have been introduced in 1986 but VHS was still my mainstay for buying movies until around a decade later. I was definitely not an early adopter on the HDTV since I didn't buy my first until almost 10 years after it was introduced!

Disclosure: Former Apple employee (low level, 11 years ago, never met Michael); low-grade fanboy (MB Pro, iPad, iPhone, no watch) & I also us PC's. CES attendee since 2005. Consolidation (market exits) is a rule, not an exception in almost every market, especially components & retail products. The premise that many companies will not be back next year is valid. Flat panel display maker (my area of expertise) always show their latest tech. They have several hundred BILLION dollars worth of factory capacity they have to fill up. They MUST continue to promote their tech (720, 1080, 4K, 8K, 120Hz, 240Hz, 480Hz, smartTV, 3D, thinner, bigger, better color, etc., etc.). It's a matter of survival for them....And for those of you who don't think Apple casts a shadow over CES, I refer you to Apple's gross margins vs. every other company that has a booth at CES. Growth and profit are the metrics that CEO's care about. Bonus question: How many rumor websites are dedicated to the Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, etc.? Tell me again how Apple is NOT casting a shadow?

"I refer you to Apple's gross margins vs. every other company that has a booth at CES." Irrelevant. "Growth and profit are the metrics that CEO's care about." Irrelevant. "How many rumor websites are dedicated to the Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, etc.?" Irrelevant. "Tell me again how Apple is NOT casting a shadow?" Simple. Most of these companies were in business long before Apple's iPhone-related explosion the past 10 (really 7-8) years. Most of these companies will still be in business when the iPhone is no longer the #1 product on the planet (the iPad has already clearly peaked, and if the iPhone 7 doesn't at least match the iPhone 6, the iPhone will have peaked also). Most of these companies make products that are not in competition with and have nothing to do with Apple's very limited product lines (smartwatch, smartphone, music player, TV box, tablet, PC). Even the ones that do compete with Apple, many of them were making smartwatches, smartphones, music players, PCs etc. before Apple entered the business or when Apple was struggling to survive as a marginal player before the iPod rescued them and the iPhone caused them to blow up, AND APPLE "STOLE" AS MANY DESIGN CUES FROM THE SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTS MADE BY THOSE COMPANIES AS OTHER COMPANIES ALLEGEDLY DO FROM APPLE. The difference is that when Apple steals, no one sues them for infringement and THE FANBOYS OF THE OTHER COMPANIES DO NOT ENDLESSLY HYPOCRITICALLY WHINE ABOUT IT. 10 years from now, when the iPhone is just another product like the VHS player (which used to be VERY EXPENSIVE, and movies on VHS used to cost like $70 apiece and this was back in the 1980s so your Spielberg sci-fi VHS tape in the 1980s would be like $250 in today's money), the CD player and the PC did also (where a Macintosh cost $5000 in today's money in 1985, you can get a Chromebook for $150) and Apple goes back to being another tech company, Dell, LG, Samsung, Lenovo, Sony etc. will still be at CES selling their connected devices that Apple fans like you are either mocking as junk - because Apple does not make a competing product - or are criticizing as Apple ripoffs when they are. But here's the deal: Apple knows the value of these connected appliances. That's why they came out with HomeKit 2 years ago. Apple HOPES that everyone with the CES products like the ones that you are mocking that actually do catch on - and some will - are going to hook into HomeKit so that it will give them a piece of the pie, and so it will make iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, tvOS and watchOS more valuable. However, it is unlikely to happen. Because connected devices will be manufactured primarily by companies who already were in this space, they have no incentive to use a platform that only a tiny percentage of their customer base has. Translation: if you make washing machines, you have no incentive to limit your smart washing machine market to iPhone owners. You are going to want your smart washing machine to be bought by as many people as possible. So what is far likely to happen is that the smart devices market will eventually coalesce around a common open standard. A standard which HomeKit (or whatever Apple is forced to come out with to replace it) will have to support if they wish to remain relevant. So sure, you can laugh now. Five years from now, when it will be obvious that the iPhone frenzy that ruled this decade is never coming back - which by the way Apple is preparing for, which is why they are emulating Google and Microsoft in creating cloud services and coming out with virtual reality products - there won't be anywhere near as many smiles on those faces. And by the way, there won't be anywhere near as many Apple rumor sites either.

DVD was announced in 1996 not 1986

I need an iFridge. Hey Siri, peel me some grapes!

4K HDR is really interesting to me (the HDR part, not so much the 4K part). If nothing else, it will force deep and stable dynamic range representation to become an important feature of TVs.