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FROM: MAY-JUN 2009 ISSUE | BY GABRIEL VITUS
Every January, manufacturers, re-sellers, buyers, and media gather in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show. Market affordability and social responsibility were the main themes of the show this year, and CEOs of the major electronics manufacturers emphasized their companies’ contributions to protecting the environment. Given the size of the electronics sector, those companies are in a position to make a big difference by going green. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the consumer electronics market was worth about $171 billion US in 2008; the forecast for 2009 is $170 billion – not bad for a recession.
Digital Televisions
IPTVs are not computers, but TVs that have the ability to run services provided through the Internet. Last year’s TVs were Internet enabled; however, there were no service providers in North America. The first providers – Netflix and CinemaNow – operate in the United States and offer alternatives to Video on Demand services provided by local cable/satellite providers. IPTVs can handle information packaged in “gadget” or “ticker tape” format; Yahoo is the major provider streaming weather, traffic, news, and other information to IPTV sets.
A major improvement is the increase in the frame speed from 60Hz to 120Hz. All TVs, HD or not, render 60 picture frames per second, tricking the eyes and the brain into believing they see motion. Current imaging technologies are a bit slow. Because of that we may see a blur or shadow behind a moving object, such as a tennis ball. The new technology is able to render 120 and 240 picture frames per second, offering high clarity and eliminating motion blur.
Currently the HDTV picture format has 1080 horizontal lines and 1920 colour cells across every line, giving viewers the impression of high definition. In essence, the smallest picture detail that we can see is the 1/1920th of a TV line or a colour cell. The new 4K format allows for a higher density of colour cells. We will be able to see details up to a 1/3820th of a line, tremendously enhancing picture quality.
Cell Phones
All cell phone manufacturers now offer touch screens. Phone TV is making inroads in North America, but it will take some time before it is released in Canada due to the high costs of data packages offered by Canadian cell phone operators. Services such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube are becoming more common with cell phone manufacturers and service providers.
Netbooks
Solid State Drives (memory chip based hard drives) are offered by all notebook manufacturers with the affordable price range set at 160GB. Larger capacity units are still too expensive for the current market, but manufacturers do offer notebooks with dual hard drives for more capacity, one static up to 160GB and one traditional with 500GB capacity.
The netbook is a new category of notebooks offered by almost all manufacturers. The mini notebook refers to screen sizes of 10 inches and below, while the netbook refers to a notebook with a built-in Internet connection. Small in size, the compromise is made on performance, especially memory and CPU speed. Netbooks are not intended to be workhorses for resource intensive applications, but are designed for Internet browsing, emailing, and using basic productivity tools. Netbooks come with Linux or Windows operating systems and the price point of $600 is very enticing for non-business users.
Another interesting development is the new combined mouse/remote control, which offers spatial mouse functionality and a game wand (made popular by Nintendo Wii). If you purchase a Lenovo desktop, you may have a computer and an interactive gaming device all in one. Overall, the prediction for the consumer electronics market in 2009 is definitely rosier than many other market segments.
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