大家究竟为了什么参加CES？

苹果(Apple)在国际消费性电子展(CES)的年年缺席，以及微软(Microsoft) 决定在 2012年后不再参加CES (这是怎么一回事？)，让很多评论家很快做出一个结论：CES声势下滑；而该展的参观人次确实也出现逐年减少趋势。甚至在展会期间，有些记者与分析师也抱 怨，今年的CES都没有什么“大新闻”，每个所谓的创新产品都仅只是“加量(incremental)”的变化。 但我的看法却不太一样；我认为，今年的CES透露了一些清晰的讯息，包括今日的移动装置将如何支配明日之电视、 车用资通讯系统、个人健康照护系统…等设备的设计，以及将会有更多样化的应用程序，会执行在跨平台的所有设备上。而且我在CES看到与听到的讯息，正在我 所知的产业界居于重要的位置；我想对很多其它人来说也是一样──无论是工程师、行销人员或是分析师，他们的业务显然都是有相互关联的。 从 2012年的CES也可以看出，移动装置、电视机、家庭剧院、个人计算机、机上盒、汽车与其它嵌入式系统，需要更好的连结与互动方案。对于将电子产业界的不同领域厂商集合到同一个地方，“CES正在发挥优势；”CSR行销长Kanwar Chadha对我说：“全球移动通讯大会(Mobile World Congress，每年2月在西班牙巴塞隆纳举行)也不错，但范围就窄了一些，仅限定在移动技术领域。” 如果不知道下一代平板装置与智能手机发展趋势，很难掌握你将开发的新型嵌入式系统需要配备那些功能；来自不同功能领域的芯片设计业者，也需要确认那些功能是得在今年与明年整合到SoC产品中 的。随着有越来越多平板装置与智能型手机在CES现身，我们也可以确定，移动装置已经继电视与PC之后，成为该展会的第三大主轴。 藉由新崛起的 Ultrabook ，PC领域正在积极重整旗鼓；我们疑惑于这款具颠覆性的产品将如何撼动客厅战场──至少其冲击足以迫使电视制造商针对 Ultrabook / 平板装置订定策略，而相关计画暗示了将出现支持”多屏(multi-screen)”的家用娱乐方案，较小尺寸的屏幕将可与客厅墙上较大尺寸的屏幕互补 (而非取代)。无论那些策略内容是什么，关键在于以让消费者惊艳──而且合理──的方式简化连结与增加可用性。 对我来说，参加现场展会总是很有乐趣，因为可以看到实际展示(不只是Power Point演示文稿)；与各摊位的参展商会面，往往能获得珍贵的信息；而在展场上的不期而遇(在摊位间发现熟悉的脸孔，或是与几个月不见的友人撞个正着)也是 很难得的社交经验。以下是我从CES挖掘到的几个问题，未来都是很好的报导题材： 1. HDMI 2.0的未来将如何发展？ DiiVA向来被称为“中国的HDMI解决方案”，但却距离席卷中国市场还有好一段距离；不过在DiiVA的摊位上，还是看到了LG与TCL的电视机原型。DiiVA的下一步是什么？他们有意将接口规格提供给新成立的HDMI Forum，为HDMI 2.0搜寻新功能。 DiiVA 主席Steve Yum表示，DiiVA规格的设计宗旨，是希望能以较低成本的缆线将装置连结成网络，传递资料与未经压缩的影音讯号，因此希望能为HDMI 2.0提供一些帮助。在我访问Yum的时候，有一位配戴CableLabs名牌的男士走进DiiVA摊位希望能取得更多信息；我不知道接下来将如何发展， 但至少我知道现在不只是中国，美国市场也知道DiiVA了。 本文下一页：更多理由 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载

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• 2012消费电子界不可逆转的10 大趋势
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{pagination} 2. iCloud所带来的意想不到商机 因 为内建闪存的智能型手机越来越多，SanDisk也赚了不少，但该公司的好财运不只于此；SanDisk执行长Sanjay Mehrotra表示，随着越来越多资料与服务跃上“云端”，在移动装置对更快速、更频繁存取信息的需求下，一些热门资料现在是存在闪存而非硬盘。 所以我们会看到以闪存磁盘阵列组成的资料中心？我以前还真的没想过！ 3. 你真的想在大尺寸电视屏幕上玩脸书？ 我 在CES期间与经常贡献EETimes 美国版的忠实网友Frank Eory不期而遇，当我们聊到看展心得，他的某个观点让我特别印象深刻。“为何所有的大尺寸电视厂商都在屏幕上放Facebook的logo？“他说： ”我最不想在客厅与家人分享的信息之一，就是脸书上的信息。“──你难道不认为那些积极推广智能电视、连网电视的厂商可得好好想想了… 4. 手机的下一个’甜蜜点’何在？ 智能型手机总有一天将在市场上找不到界线，因为所有的手机都会变成智能型手机；你可能已经听过这个，如果该趋势是必然的，那对于试图赢得下一代手机设计案的芯片厂商来说，最好的时机点在哪里？ 对此博通(Broadcom)手机平台解决方案副总裁Rafael Sotomayor直接了当的表示：“对平价智能型手机的大量需求，正在推动今日的手机市场。」他强调，不是“低阶(low-end)智能手机”，而是 在功能上没有妥协的“平价(affordable)智能手机“。因此对博通来说，整合LTE功能并不是优先选项，该公司目标市场是将在2012年底出现，功能完整、低于100美元的智能型手机(不绑约)。 我知道博通的重点在于“不妥协”，因为其竞争对手如联发科 (MediaTek)的脚步也很快；Sotomayor表示：“其它人可能告诉你，他们的芯片也有支持GPS功能，但他们能支持GLONASS吗？” GLONASS是俄罗斯的GPS系统，据Sotomayor表示，整合GPS与GLONASS将为消费者带来大幅改善的定位功能体验。 5. 在遥控器里面加入蓝牙功能？ 我 一直认为用蓝牙取代电视遥控器里的红外线，是有一点困难的；毕竟，消费性电子产业，特别是电视产业，通常利润都很低。但是若有一支配备低功耗蓝牙的遥控 器，其电池续航力将会超级长，而且不用指向电视机(或机顶盒)就可以切换频道。这个理由足以说服你换一支智能型遥控器吗？也许不然。 但 我已经看到有不少公司，包括Monster 与 Cambridge Audio，开始去取得 CSR aptX 技术的授权，也就是一种执行在蓝牙上层的高品质音讯译码技术专利。aptX号称可以提供消费者胜于蓝牙标准译码技术的无线音质体验；利用该技术，系统厂商 可以开发各种以蓝牙为基础的解决方案，不只是iPod基座或是无线耳机，还有不用牵线的多声道音响系统。 而蓝牙遥控器最终也可以与这些装置互通，所以CSR放弃Zoran的电视芯片业务实在是不智之举，后者的电视平台可以把一些东西绑在一起，例如让蓝牙在家用娱乐环境扮演要角。 编译：Judith Cheng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文： Reporter's notebook: Why we go to CES，by Junko Yoshida

相关阅读：
• CES回顾：发现摊位中的亮点
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• 华为最薄智能机远征CES，为中国品牌而战tuOesmc

{pagination} Reporter's notebook: Why we go to CES Junko Yoshida LAS VEGAS – The absence of Apple from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) year after year (it bugs everyone) and Microsoft Corp.’s decision to pull out of the CES after 2012 (what’s going on here?) has led many armchair pundits to jump (prematurely) to the facile conclusion that CES has slipped –despite colossal attendance numbers into an inevitable and irreversible decline. Even during the show, some reporters and analysts complained that there wasn’t any “big” news at this year’s CES; every innovation was just “incremental” change. Yeah, well (insert razzberry), I beg to differ. In my opinion, this year’s CES gave a crystal-clear signal on how mobile devices today will dictate the design of tomorrow’s TVs, automotive infotainment systems, personal health systems, and more important, abundant apps that should run on every device cross platform. What I heard and saw at CES now holds a prominent place in my analysis of the industry. I suspect the same for many others – whether design engineers, marketers or analysts – whose business is connecting the dots before the dots are evident. Clearly – as indicated at CES 2012 – mobile devices, TVs, home theaters, PCs, set-tops, automotive and other embedded systems need better connectivity and interplay. “CES is now playing to its strength,” Kanwar Chadha, CSR’s chief marketing officer, told me, in gathering all these different sectors of the electronics industry in one place. “Mobile World Congress [scheduled for late February in Barcelona, Spain] is good, but its scope is narrow. It’s limited to mobility,” said Chadha. Not knowing new features and generations of the next-generation tablets and smartphones, it’s hard to figure out what your next embedded systems need to enable. Chip designers developing individual function blocks need to identify which features will get sucked into which system’s SoCs this year and next. As more tablets and smartphones find their ways to the CES, mobility has officially become the show’s third leg -- after TVs and PCs. The PC segment is also making a strong comeback with the emergence of Ultrabook. We wonder what damage Ultrabook can wreak in the living room – at least enough to force TV manufacturers to develop a strategy for Ultrabooks /media tablets. Any such plan suggests a multi-screen living room, with little screens complementing (not supplanting) the biggie on the wall. Whatever the strategy, the key is to simplify connectivity and increase usability in a way that delights – and makes sense to – consumers. Attending live shows is always fun because you see actual demos (beyond the tedium of Power Point). Meetings with booth people always convey valuable lessons. Chance meetings (spotting a familiar face at a booth or bumping into someone you haven’t seen for months) are social treats that often turn educational. Here are a few sound bites – some of which might turn into stories later, as I go about connecting dots. 1) What’s in store for HDMI 2.0? DiiVA, often described as “China’s answer to HDMI,” is far from taking the Chinese market by storm yet, although TV prototypes by LG and TCL were spotted at DiiVA’s booth. What’s DiiVA’s next move? Advance its own interface into what appears to be a newly opened up HDMI Forum, seeking new features for HDMI 2.0. DiiVA, whose spec is designed to connect devices in a network, carrying both data and uncompressed audio/video signals over a low-cost cable, wants to help, explained Steve Yum, president of DiiVA. As I was interviewing Yum at DiiVA’s booth, a gentleman with a CableLabs nametag drops in. He wants to know more about DiiVA. I am not sure where this is going, but at least I know now that it’s not just China, but America already knows about DiiVA. 2) Unintended consequences of iCloud SanDisk has profited hugely from the growing number of smartphones with flash devices. But SanDisk’s good fortune doesn’t end there. As more data and services go into the cloud, hot data, to which mobile devices demand a quick and frequent access, is now being stored in flash devices instead of hard disk drives, according to SanDisk CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. Flash raids on data centers? I hadn’t thought of it before. 3) So, why do you need to have a Facebook icon on a large-screen TV? I bumped into Frank Eory, a frequent commentator at www.eetimes.com, at CES in Las Vegas. As we compared notes, one of Frank’s remarks stuck in my mind. “Why are all the big TV companies slapping a Facebook logo on their screens?” He said, “The last thing I want to share with the rest of my family in a living room is my Facebook messages.” As vendors pitch “Smart TVs” and “Connected PCs,” here’s one thing to re-think. Don’t you agree? 4) Where’s the next sweet spot for mobile phones? Smartphones will lose their distinction because every mobile phone will become a smartphone. You’ve probably heard this. If true, where’s the sweet spot for chip vendors looking for design wins in next-generation mobile handsets? Rafael Sotomayor, vice president of Broadcom’s mobile platform solutions group, flatly says, “Huge demand for affordable smartphones is driving today’s mobile market.” Forget low-end smartphones. He said, “I’m talking about ‘affordable smartphones’ with no compromise” in features. LTE integration isn’t high on Broadcom’s agenda -- yet. Its goal is a sub-$100 smartphone (without operator subsidies) packed with features before the end of 2012. I know Broadcom’s emphasis is “no compromise.” The company knows competitors like MediaTek are catching on fast. Sotomayor said, “Others may tell you that they, too, have a GPS feature in their SoC. But do they also support GLONASS?” GLONASS is a Russian GPS system. The combination of GPS and GLONASS, Sotmomayor stressed, leads to a vastly improved location experience for consumers. 5) Bluetooth in a remote control? I always thought replacing IR with Bluetooth in a TV remote a bit of a stretch. After all, the consumer electronics business, especially TV, has always been about low margins. But with a Bluetooth low-energy remote, your remote will live “for life,” and you need not aim and point at a TV (or set-top) to change channels. Is this enough to convert you to smart remotes? Probably not. But wait. I saw a number of companies, like Monster and Cambridge Audio, beginning to license CSR’s aptX technology – a proprietary high-quality audio codec that runs on top of Bluetooth. AptX is said to offer consumers substantially better audio quality over a wireless connection than the standard Bluetooth codec. With AptX, system companies can develop Bluetooth-based solutions not only for iPod docks and wireless headphones, but also multi-speaker systems that eliminate the hassle of stringing cables all over the room. Bluetooth remotes can definitely talk to these devices, too. It’s too bad CSR had to dump Zoran’s TV business. Zoran’s TV platform could have tied some of the things together, like Bluetooth in the home entertainment world.