2017 Consumer Technology Trends - 4K, VR, AIO and Things
Taking a look at where consumer technology is headed in 2017, in my opinion focuses on 4 major areas - 4K, Virtual Reality (VR), All-in-One (AIO) and IoT (Things) - especially those that integrate with Amazon Alex, Apple Siri or Microsoft Cortana.
Let's take a look at each...
4K - The 4K or 3840 x 2160 pixel UHD resolution is becoming the new normal. Every major TV manufacturer has 4K products and the question that is being raised in the industry is will anyone still be making HD 1920 x 1080 products by years end.
4K is not just twice the number of pixels but actually 4 times. And prices are dropping like a rock. A quick check at Costco or BestBuy and 55" 4K TVs are selling for $500. If you buy a new TV in 2017 chances are it will be a 4K unit.
The big question though is the availability of native 4K content. Much like Blu-Ray players, that could "uplift" DVD (480p) content to 1080p HD, these TVs do the same with 1080p content - uplifting it to the 2160p format. The challenge is going to be that the broadcasters will move much slower. While new codec standards like H.265 are out there that can easily support 4K and even 8K content. The current broadcast standard (ATSC) is for traditional 1080p HD.
The main source for new 4K content will be via streaming. So Netflix, Hulu, AppleTV, etc. Expect to see more and more become available from this channel than cable or satellite. And it will take some time before the majority of content will be 4K.
VR - Virtual and Augmented Reality is exploding. At CES 2017 in Vegas, the vast majority of Intel's Press Conference was done with the audience wearing VR headsets. And the pace of products will be rampant, from high end stand-alone devices like MS Hololens through entry level devices being introduced by Dell, HP, Asus and others. Gaming, Sports, Education, Medical and even porn apps will grow like crazy and my this time next year there will be a broad array of product choices and content.
AIO - Starting with the Microsoft Studio, the All-in-One computer is making a comeback. With touch and pen support along with haptic feedback control wheels and full tile/lay flat designs, these new designs will change the way that many think about their PC.
With that said, I am still wary of the amount of content/apps and how much you'll actually use some of the capabilities, but as MS is pushing more 3D and Ink capabilities in Windows 10, this trend will continue. Dell, HP and others showed new large screen AIOs and Dell even demo'd a new monitor under the Canvas moniker than can provide the touch/pen/wheel capability to existing PCs.
Things. So from fridges to toasters, and everything in between, there is a flood of new IoT things coming to market. Combine that with the AI capabilities from Amazon, MS, Google and Apple and the personal assistant has become the new must have.
Amazon could not make Echo Dot devices fast enough this Christmas season to keep up with demand. This new voice interface and the potential it holds not only around commerce, streaming, etc but also around home automation and control is pretty cool. Compared to where we were just 3 years ago, the pace is simply staggering and with providers leveraging cloud instead of having to build intelligence into the device, the pace will continue to increase, especially as the competition increases for your attention.
So Happy 2017, it's going to be an interesting year...
Let's take a look at each...
4K - The 4K or 3840 x 2160 pixel UHD resolution is becoming the new normal. Every major TV manufacturer has 4K products and the question that is being raised in the industry is will anyone still be making HD 1920 x 1080 products by years end.
4K is not just twice the number of pixels but actually 4 times. And prices are dropping like a rock. A quick check at Costco or BestBuy and 55" 4K TVs are selling for $500. If you buy a new TV in 2017 chances are it will be a 4K unit.
The big question though is the availability of native 4K content. Much like Blu-Ray players, that could "uplift" DVD (480p) content to 1080p HD, these TVs do the same with 1080p content - uplifting it to the 2160p format. The challenge is going to be that the broadcasters will move much slower. While new codec standards like H.265 are out there that can easily support 4K and even 8K content. The current broadcast standard (ATSC) is for traditional 1080p HD.
The main source for new 4K content will be via streaming. So Netflix, Hulu, AppleTV, etc. Expect to see more and more become available from this channel than cable or satellite. And it will take some time before the majority of content will be 4K.
VR - Virtual and Augmented Reality is exploding. At CES 2017 in Vegas, the vast majority of Intel's Press Conference was done with the audience wearing VR headsets. And the pace of products will be rampant, from high end stand-alone devices like MS Hololens through entry level devices being introduced by Dell, HP, Asus and others. Gaming, Sports, Education, Medical and even porn apps will grow like crazy and my this time next year there will be a broad array of product choices and content.
AIO - Starting with the Microsoft Studio, the All-in-One computer is making a comeback. With touch and pen support along with haptic feedback control wheels and full tile/lay flat designs, these new designs will change the way that many think about their PC.
With that said, I am still wary of the amount of content/apps and how much you'll actually use some of the capabilities, but as MS is pushing more 3D and Ink capabilities in Windows 10, this trend will continue. Dell, HP and others showed new large screen AIOs and Dell even demo'd a new monitor under the Canvas moniker than can provide the touch/pen/wheel capability to existing PCs.
Things. So from fridges to toasters, and everything in between, there is a flood of new IoT things coming to market. Combine that with the AI capabilities from Amazon, MS, Google and Apple and the personal assistant has become the new must have.
Amazon could not make Echo Dot devices fast enough this Christmas season to keep up with demand. This new voice interface and the potential it holds not only around commerce, streaming, etc but also around home automation and control is pretty cool. Compared to where we were just 3 years ago, the pace is simply staggering and with providers leveraging cloud instead of having to build intelligence into the device, the pace will continue to increase, especially as the competition increases for your attention.
So Happy 2017, it's going to be an interesting year...
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