At the Consumer Electronics Associations' Digital Downtown event in New York City a number of new products were on display. While this was no Las Vegas CES there were some cool gadgets out.
With mobility and entertainment as a big theme, Intel displayed 3 ultra mobile PCs that use the company's Atom processor. The company was vague on the system specs because they're only providing the processor while other companies are making the actual devices. In this case Fujitsu, Compal, and Lenovo for these 3 machines. The Ideapad by Lenovo runs an 800 megahertz processor and 1 gig of memory. All of the devices are supposed to be available by the end of this year.
Hitachi displayed it's ultra thin 1 and a half inch flat panel display. 32, 37, and 42 inch screens are available now.
Motorola showed off a number of consumer audio devices. The first was the s9 headset. It's Bluetooth enabled and allows a user to listen to music on a Bluetooth enabled mp3 device or a phone. When a call comes in, the user can tap a button to stop the music and simultaneously answer the call.
While the S9 headset uses ear buds, Motorola's DJ headset offers an around ear experience, but still has the same features as its smaller counterpart....bluetooth connectivity and a single click pick up and pause feature. Both Bluetooth headsets are available now for 100 to 150 dollars.
Yet to hit the market are the Q series speakers. The three different models range in size and connectivity. The low end model the EQ3 plugs into a music playing device and runs off batteries, whereas the high end model, the Eq7 can use plug in power and connect via wire or Bluetooth. It can also be used as a speaker phone if a call comes in.
The Q series speakers will be available as early as August and will range in price from 50 to 200 dollars depending on the model.
Electronics retaile r Best Buy had a trailer full of innovative electronics outside the main show floor and next to the Hudson River.
Wireless electricity was one of the things on display there.
Mary Beth Karabinos
Best Buy
The devices like the iPod and lamp were retrofitted with the technology to work with the table. And the wire running from all of the devices is actually a security cable to make sure no one steals the products.
The ecoupled table should be available in early 2009.
And for the musician, Roland was on hand with an electronic drumset and a keyboard microphone system where your voice is the instrument, but you control the pitch with the keyboard. This makes it easy for someone who doesn't have a good ear to sound like a star, though you still need to know how to play piano.
The Digital Downtown event happened for a reason. Even though there is an economic slowdown it doesn't seem like the consumer electronics industry is being hit hard.
Shawn DuBravac
The consumer electronics industry has actually held up quite well. If you look at certain categories like gaming, up 19% in the first quarter over last year. GPSs had a phenomenal year, up 73% in the first quarter in terms of units. Even things like MP3 players that look like they are a more mature product we've seen minimal growth in units, but have grown about 16% in revenue so it does look like as consumers replace their devices they're moving to more expensive devices. One of the things that is clear as we go through 6 months of the year is that consumers are allocating more dollars towards consumer electronics products and less to more durable goods like furniture, home furnishings, building materials for remodeling. Those type of categories have been very hard hit throughout 08 and consumer electronics has benefited from that. As much as consumers are cutting back on spending in general they are still allocating dollars to consumer electronics.
For the IDG News Service I'm Nick Barber in New York with additional reporting by Marc Ferranti.
