CES 2020: Getting Ready for Cool New Tech

Article by Angie Kibiloski

I’m in Las Vegas this week, to cover CES, the largest annual technology trade show in the world. I attend every year, and I’m always astonished at how it grows in size each time, both in square footage and quantity of exhibitors. Quantity doesn’t always mean quality though, and some years I’ve considered more successful than others.

What do I mean by “successful” and how do I judge? Well, for me, a great CES needs to introduce me to truly new and innovative products, that are different from what is already on the market, not just the newest model of something everyone is familiar with. I can go see the next, slightly more ergonomic version of a wireless headset, or the newest, fun color of a phone case at Best Buy. I come all the way to CES, fighting the crowds and the sensory overload, in the hopes of experiencing something totally new and unexpected, something that hasn’t been done a dozen times before, by a dozen other companies.

That special “wow factor” has been missing in recent years, with a few stand-out exceptions, which I’ve mentioned in past years’ coverage. Half a dozen years ago, it seemed like every product was a new kind of technology, and I’d walk around the show, marvelling at the state of the industry. I really hope that with the dawn of this new decade, CES 2020 will astonish me again, and recapture my wonder and excitiment with an industry I’ve grown up with. Judging from some of the Press Releases I’ve been getting in the lead-up to the show, I’m actually hopeful that this will be true.

Check back in this space over the next week for my CES 2020 coverage, starting with the 2 huge annual Press events, Digital Experience, and ShowStoppers, and proceeding to my time exploring the vast convention show floors.

January 5th, 2020