Consumer Electronics Show: Yawn

This post cites Palm, Inc. (PALM - Analyst Report) and Panasonic Corp. (PC - Analyst Report).

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is the premier consumer electronics show in North America. This year was essentially a non-event, in my opinion.

Attendance was way down. The press lunch had extra meals whereas last year I was too late to grab anything. (This may have been in response to the quality of the boxed lunch, as compared to the catered meals of prior years, however.)

Many exhibitors failed to turn up. This means they lose the preparation fee (about $75 a square foot) and will probably lose their priority place in line for 2010. A lot of empty spaces is not a good sign.

No Major New Product Announcements

Palm, Inc. (PALM - Analyst Report) announced its new mobile operating system, WebOS, and a touch screen smart phone. It was difficult to discern how this was any better than the many other smart phones at the show.

Panasonic Corp. (PC - Analyst Report) displayed its new 3D HDTV. This looked good, but it was probaly due to the 3D glasses more than anything else. In our opinion, 3D with glasses has never been a major market.

There were very few people in the International Pavilion. This is where I usually get an insight to what the next commodity product is. And it is not pink handbags accessorized for a pink (or purple) cell phone case.

The 2009 CES reminded me of the waning days of COMDEX. However, the decline of COMDEX was, in no small part, due to the ability to buy and sell across the Internet. CES is impacted by Internet trading, but it is a consumer show and not a trade show.

Retail sales over the Christmas season were poor. The consumer electronics business is in a quiet period until March 2009 when we get into the negotiations for new technology to be incorporated in products for the 2009 November/December selling season. In 2008, the Super Bowl weekend was a bust, and this year will probably be even worse.

In Consumer Electronics, "I want" has been replaced by "I need," and this may well last into 2010.

Read the full analyst report on PALM

Read the full analyst report on PC