Vendors, not their products, make news at CES
CES has become one of three major events in the US calendar for mobile device launches, along with the two CTIA shows. But the CES just concluded in Las Vegas was largely devoid of major device announcements, with many announcements offering incremental improvements in technology at best.
The specs on devices launched at CES were in line with devices already launched, with no real improvements. LTE, HD screens, and 1.5GHz processors are quickly becoming standards for smartphones launching in the US market. Perhaps the best example of the incrementalism on display at CES was the Droid Razr Maxx launched by Motorola, which is in fact merely a thicker version of the Droid Razr already in the market, with a larger, longer-lasting battery.
However, the newsworthy announcements were notable more for what they said about the vendors behind them than about the devices themselves. And they came from players who are rather marginal in the US smartphone market – Nokia, Sony, and Huawei. Nokia launched the Lumia 900, its second Windows Phone offering in theUS market, and its first Windows Phone device with LTE. Huawei launched the Ascend P1 and P1 S, two ultra-thin, high-end smartphones, which indicate a departure from its strategy of providing low-cost devices at the low to mid end, although the device will not be available on any US carriers. Sony announced its first devices without the Ericsson brand, and offering deeper integration with Sony services.
No vendors pushing the envelope on device specs at CES
AT&T announced half a dozen devices at its Developer Event. These included three smartphones from Samsung, each of which was announced with a rather marginal unique selling point, a low-cost tablet and smartphone from Pantech, and one from Sony. Verizon kept a relatively low profile, and announced an HD-screened device from LG and an alternative version of its Droid Razr product. Sprint, meanwhile, pre-announced two LTE devices that won’t see the light of day for months.
What was clear at CES was that it fell in an awkward period not well suited to major advances. Android OEMs who like to add their own skins to their devices haven’t had the Ice Cream Sandwich source code for long enough to allow them to release devices yet. Although two LTE-capable Windows Phone devices were announced, they are some way from launch because Microsoft has not officially released its LTE software upgrade. And while dual-core devices have quickly become the norm, quad-core devices were not quite ready to launch at CES either.
Most likely, all three of these windows will have opened just enough by Mobile World Congress that there should be significantly more announcements there of ICS-based Android devices, LTE-capable Windows Phone handsets, and quad-core smartphones and tablets. The one hint of a quad-core device at CES was a tablet previewed at an Nvidia event – an Asus device which will apparently run Ice Cream Sandwich and retail for just $249. Though short on additional detail, this announcement suggested there might be rather more to come in February.
Most significant announcements from marginal players in theUSmarket
Though not landmark announcements, Huawei, Sony, and Nokia’s device launches at least signaled something bigger than single devices. Huawei’s Ascend devices claim to be the thinnest smartphones on the market, though neither runs LTE today, and no US carrier has picked them up. However, they signal an intention on Huawei’s part to compete at the high end of the market as well as the low to mid tier where they have historically competed. Our conversations with Huawei at the event suggested that the Ascend brand may become the equivalent of Samsung’s Galaxy line or LG’s Optimus series, as an umbrella for a number of iconic phones.
Huawei has hitherto served the smaller US carriers under its own brand and the major carriers under their brands, and it hopes to launch more devices with the larger carriers under its own brand too. However, it recognizes that it needs to make some decisions about whether to lead with the Huawei brand or another that trips off American tongues more easily as it makes this push, and the Ideos and Ascend brands it is already using are certainly in the mix.
Nokia, which has suffered from a huge decline in the US over the last several years, made a forceful comeback at the show with the launch of the Lumia 900, also launching on AT&T’s network (see Nokia brings out the big guns in the US with Lumia 900). The fact that this device, which likely won’t launch for a couple of months, won several best in show awards, is a sign both of Nokia’s re-emergence as a player in the US market and of the paucity of other interesting announcements at the show.
Lastly, Sony’s Xperia Ion and three other devices launched at the show represent the first to hit the market without Ericsson’s name, as Sony wraps up its acquisition of Ericsson’s share of their joint venture. Aside from the branding change, the devices represent a first foray into devices which will be more integrated with Sony’s other offerings, with deeper integration with Sony’s content services and stores (see Sony finally becomes multiscreen vendor with first own-brand smartphones).
Arguably, these device launches tell us far more about the future direction of the smartphone market in general, and the US market in particular, than the specs of any of the devices launched at the show.
