Not So Neat, When It's Obsolete
In the stampede to make tech devices smaller, flatter, and thinner, are we sacrificing common sense for vanity?
The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) just wrapped up in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the largest show in the event’s history, with more than 3,100 exhibitors across the largest show floor – 1.861 million net square feet of exhibit space – and drawing more than 153,000 attendees from all corners of the world to see the newest, latest, and greatest in the world of tech offerings: Cell phones, TVs, computers, video games, cameras, appliances, and more. If it's tech, it's here.
The driving force of this annual show, is the insatiable demand by consumers for more and more tech. We blew past 2G, then 3G was better, now 4G is pushing data transfer speeds to your mobile phone as fast or faster than your home internet connection! Look at the offerings of any wireless carrier, it is a veritable arms race who can cram the most tech into their mobile devices. People demand larger and flatter screens, higher image density, LCD, Plasma, LED, more pixels, more more more more more.
The show also attracts all the press and independent tech reviewers. These privileged individuals get to see products in person 3-6 months before the product shows up on store shelves, while the general public gets to see glimpses of the new tech through the eyes of the reviewers.
This year, several in the press came back from the show, grumbling and commenting that it was "boring" this year.
How on earth can a show with over 3,100 exhibitors taking up the better half of 2 million square feet produce a show that can be written off as boring by certain tech reports and reviews? Out of the thousands of exhibits on show, was there nothing there that captured their interest? Obviously not.
What can we expect from manufacturers year after year that are forced to produce innovative gadgets that warrant space age headlines and mind boggling concepts?
Are we, as consumers, inspired by these techno geeks putting unreal pressure on manufacturers to invest millions of dollars into research and development in this current financial climate, to outshine their current and existing products, some of which haven't been released yet? When the iPad 2 is released, the iPad 3 is already in the works.
Does vanity, or a need to be first with the latest trend, cause an imbalance over necessity? It's now reaching epidemic proportions to have, say, the iPad 3, when you just bought the iPad 2 a few weeks ago, and it is already pushed to one side.
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