CES 2021 -- Virtual-Style -- Gets Underway With Trends Talk, Verizon Keynote, And Lots Of Press Conferences

Virtual

By PERRY MICHAEL SIMON in LOS ANGELES: The CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW (CES) gets underway TODAY (1/11), but instead of its usual LAS VEGAS event, the show is being conducted in virtual form with a schedule of sessions running through THURSDAY (1/14).

MONDAY's main event was the keynote by VERIZON Chairman/CEO HANS VESTBERG, which amounted to an advertisement for the company's 5G services with visits by NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL and former football and baseball star DEION SANDERS as well as BLACK PUMAS, and the announcement that 5G Ultra Wideband is being implemented in 15 LIVE NATION concert venues including the WILTERN THEATRE in LOS ANGELES and IRVING PLAZA in NEW YORK and at 28 NFL stadiums by the end of the year, but the day's schedule was mostly made up of a series of press conferences unveiling manufacturers' 2021 lines. And, as always, the CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION used Media Day to offer its annual trends session while its sales data release is once again being done without benefit of a formal presentation.

In the past, the CTA offered a Media Day presentation with sales data for various consumer electronics categories, but in recent years, the hard numbers for sales of things like cell phones and TVs, which were becoming alarmingly soft in some categories, have taken a back seat to the more general "Tech Trends to Watch" presentation, which puts aside most statistics for a rosier outlook on the development and deployment of new technology. This year, VP/Research STEVE KOENIG and CTA Dir./Research LESLEY RORBAUGH ran through several categories of upward-trending technology, including digital health, pandemic-prompted digital transformation in the fitness, education, and legal industries, robotics and drones, connected, autonomous, and/or electrified transportation, 5G (a hot topic at the last few CES shows), smart cities and offices,  

Meanwhile, the CTA released its U.S. Consumer Technology One-Year Industry Forecast projections for the tech business not in a session but in a press release, calling for U.S. retail tech sales to increase 4.3% to $461 billion, spurred by pandemic-related growth in home entertainment, 5G, and digital health devices. Increases are being projected for streaming services and software (11% growth to $112 billion, a record, although off from 31% growth in 2020), video subscriptions (up 15% to $41 billion), audio (up 19% to $10 billion, driven by music, audiobook, and podcast listening), gaming (up 8% to $47 billion), and gaming consoles (sales up 3%, revenue up 16%). Television sales, on the other hand, once the dominant category for CES, are expected to fall 8% in units sold and 1% in revenue, while smartphones are expected to rebound 4% in shipments and 5% in revenue, and laptops, coming off a record year, are looking at a 1% sales increase but a 2% revenue decline. Wireless audio sales and revenue are projected to rise 9% and 3%, respectively, and DIY smart home products are slated for a 9% sales increase and a 3% revenue increase.

As for health, connected monitoring device sales will rise 35% and revenue will be up 34%, the CTA expects, with electric bikes, new to the CTA's data tracking, are prokected to be up 60% in sales and 44% in revenue.

“The pandemic has pushed the fast-forward button on tech adoption – from our homes to our work to our doctor’s offices,” said CTA Pres. GARY SHAPIRO. “While the road to a full economic recovery is long and intertwined with a complex vaccine rollout, the tech industry’s ability to meet the moment during this crisis has been critical. As we kick off a new year with an all-digital CES 2021, I look forward to seeing the global tech community come together to share its vision for a reimagined future.”
 
“Tech demand in the first several months of 2021 will look a lot like the last few months of 2020,” said CTA Dir./Industry Analysis and Business Intelligence RICK KOWALSKI. “Streaming services, 5G connectivity and digital health devices will push consumer tech forward in the year ahead as innovative technologies prove their resilience during challenging times. The industry’s ability to meet societal needs in a variety of circumstances will bring growth in 2021 as the world emerges from the pandemic.”

HISENSE, LG, BOSCH, SAMSUNG, PANASONIC, PHILIPS, SKYWORTH, CANON, MERCEDES-BENZ, TCL, KOHLER, MAGNA, INTEL/MOBILEYE, the INDY AUTONOMOUS CHALLENGE, OMRON, CATERPILLAR, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC, and SONY made product and technology presentations TODAY in lieu of in-person showcases.

Coming up on TUESDAY, SHAPIRO and CTA EVP KAREN CHUPKA, "along with special guests," will offer a formal opening presentation, followed by GENERAL MOTORS CEO MARY BARRA's keynote, iHEARTMEDIA's session will feature RYAN SEACREST interviewing BILLIE EILISH and DUA LIPA. On WEDNESDAY, JACOBS MEDIA's annual tour of CES for radio executives will go virtual, while on THURSDAY, the DIGITAL HOLLYWOOD track of sessions will include a panel on podcasting.

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