What To Look For at CES this Year

For the first time in years, we’re going to have an interesting CES.  For too many years it’s been larger flatscreen panels and Microsoft (yawn), but that’s about to change.

Here are the big trends to watch for this year:

1. Truly exciting consumer hardware startups.  There’s real technology development going on here - check out Tactus, Basis, Formlabs, and Valencell.  And that’s not including the under-the-radar startups with stealth products being demo’ed in private suites rather than the show floor.
2. Self-driving cars from Toyota and Audi.  Having a car that can drive you home from a bar will be the ultimate in consumer electronics.  Everyone will want one.
3. Crowdfunding.  Sites like Kickstarter are the single biggest disruptive wave to influence this industry in years.  Raise money directly from consumers and gauge demand without expensive launch programs - Pebble raised over $10 million directly from consumers and will be on the show floor.
4. Goodbye Microsoft - none of the CES 2013 keynote speakers are from Microsoft and the Surface tablet launch has been an unmitigated disaster only rivaled by the Windows phone launch a year ago
5. Ultra-high resolution screens.  The CE giants are finally about to blow way past 1080p HD screens.  It’s not about screen size anymore - it’s about resolution and pixel count.  Apple led the way with the Retina Display, now watch Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and others bring 4K and much, much higher resolution screens to market.  No one cared about 3D, but everyone will love 4K+.
6. There will be a lot of press buzz about smart TV and home automation, but none of it will matter for the next few years, until the other shoe drops from Apple and others.

I can’t wait to get there.  This will be the first innovative CES in a long time.