by Marc Jensen, Chief Innovation Officer, space150

This year, CES delivered little in the way of wow-factor consumer electronics, but showcased the future for the major platforms and ecosystems that consumers will rely on now and in the future. As Steve Sinofsky said of this year's show: "there is more promise than delivery." That was especially notable in a few areas, including mobile, home, and transportation.

No other conference or event has underscored that we have reached mobile saturation more than CES. The industry is grappling with how to approach the fact that nearly every American and a good chunk of the world has a smart phone in their pocket.

This doesn't mean that innovation has stopped. One place they're going is the physical attributes of a phone. This year we saw form factors like a foldable screen from Samsung and a leaked phone from Nokia with five camera lens. While consumers may not — and should not! — clamor to get this new tech, this push opens the door to new designs beyond just the rectangular plastic and black screens we're used to. As the core market is fully served, companies are searching for niche areas to carve out and own.

The other place is the services that can take advantage of all those connections. Google Assistant, which made a huge splash at the show this year, will be baked into Google Maps, not only providing a Trojan Horse for Google Assistant in iOS, but bringing a core mobile use case to Apple users who (like me) have given up on Siri. Google will also bring hands-free functionality to Android devices, setting a clear competitive strategy away from Amazon's Alexa hardware. With your phone and a simple command, the tech industry is certainly betting you'll complete more than simple tasks using Voice.

Voice emerged for the third year in a row as the "talk" of CES. In 2017, Amazon won CES with Alexa, and all of the places this was embedded — in their devices and third party devices too. Last year, Google responded back in a big way, and this year they doubled down. The industry isn't sure exactly how voice will play out (like the early days of mobile), but they are going all-in on it. Apple has a lock on the high-end smartphone market they're serving with Siri, Amazon had the lead early, and has over 10,000 employees dedicated to voice, and Google has an advantage of being on your phone, and having access to your email, calendar, and photos which helps them do useful things for you automatically.

This year, we also seemed to have stopped asking "what will I drive?" and instead are asking, "how will I get there?" Autonomous vehicles and platforms have emerged in just the last couple of years as a serious near-term reality. Much of that reality is possible because of the advancement in AI, sensors, and computing. Major auto manufacturers were at CES to show-off their advancements, including Honda and BMW's iNEXT concept, but there were also suppliers to the auto companies like Bosch, Panasonic and others who are anxious to throw their solutions into the ring.

When we don't have to worry about "driving," designers can now start asking what does a "vehicle" look like? New shapes are starting to take shape. For example, pods like the Bosch concept above. Major manufacturers seem to be jockeying for something that sticks. Mercedes will have glowing balls; and Kia is imagining home theaters on wheels.

This future also has advertisers and brands interested in what we will do with the time we would have spent driving. Intel is calling this new era the "Passenger Economy" and cites that autonomous vehicles will free more than 250 million hours of commuting time per year in the world's most congested cities. Many companies were very clear that we will watch more content. Intel and Warner Bros decked out a BMW to show what the future could look like, if the future includes Batman. Something more exciting was that Audi and Disney unveiled a VR-equipped vehicle, Holoride, that brings games and movies into the speaker — and can vibrate and move with the content.

Overall, what's clear from this year's show is that tech is moving in opposing directions between convenience and privacy. One on hand, the data, sensors, and connection showcased at CES mean a future of convenience where tech takes over our most mundane daily tasks. However, at the same time, those technologies are inherently reliant on collecting as much info as they can about us and our personal lives.

While Apple is using its privacy stance as a differentiator, the future and hype of Voice may push consumers elsewhere. In the future, the most convenient version of Google Assistant will be dependent on knowing us as personally as possible, and being proactive and prescriptive in providing guidance on our next meeting — or even our next doctor's appointment. On privacy in particular, however, it's certainly more promise than delivery.

How will these technologies impact your brand? Don't hesitate to reach out and discuss: marc [dot] jensen [at] space150.com