CES Themes

CES seems full of familiar themes - getting tv available on every device, getting every application available on the tv. The rise of OTT content (or the second box, as I prefer to call it) is prevalent.

Microsoft embarrass themselves again by launching a sheep in wolf's clothing to try and take away some of Google and Apple's thunder by launching a slate computer that was, well an old fashioned tablet computer (but you have to give them credit for coming up with the idea a decade before Apple).

We didn't quite make it to CES this year with the Vidibox, so I'd argue that it's one of main missing links in the whole story of where television is going from here: social, connected, where you view with friends, albeit in different places, where content can be easily 'thrown' from the PC or mobile to the big screen in the living room (a feature that Boxee also announced at CES).

Everyone is doing deals with everyone and one of the most curious features is the lack of content; it's like being a foodie at a crockery show.

The reality is that most of the devices being peddled do what all the other devices, only with a slightly difference key selling point ("it's for reading books", "it's for playing music", "it's for showing web video").

Differentiation is going to be a major issue for hardware manufacturers and software providers alike.