CES, Vista, Macworld, iPhone – What Does This Mean To You?

What Does This Mean To You?

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world’s largest technology expo and showcases the latest (or future) products from thousands of companies, covering well over a million square feet of display space. As in every other year, it was held this year in Las Vegas, NV from Jan 8-11, attracting people from over 130 countries.

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, and the most known name in technology, started the show with his customary keynote speech. He covered many subjects, including the new Microsoft operating system Vista and placed special emphasis on integrating home and work technologies.

Bill Gates was followed by many other experts of the tech industry with their speeches and presentations.

Macworld opened up with a keynote from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, introducing the long awaited iPhone – a unit that integrates phone, web, and the ever so popular iPod with a bunch of other applications (supposedly) running a Mac OS X operating system. Most notably with his rock star personality Mr. Jobs stole all the thunder from Mr. Gates and CES with the new “gadget” that is not even available to the public until the second half of the year.

This Apple iPhone is the most talked about “gadget” of the year so far, no doubt topping many wish lists. In the US, it is supposed to be available through the wireless provider Cingular with a 2-year contract for $499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB).

There are several European websites taking pre-orders without a wireless contract, sometimes topping prices of $1,200. Several law suits have been filed against Apple for copyright violations and some analysts say the original shipping date may be delayed due to this. There is a device, introduced last year, that won many awards and, according to many who have seen it, looks and performs identical to the Apple device.

We can learn a lot from this experience. Apple is known for this type of “minimalization”. They understand consumer wants and needs, and their emotional attachment to gadgets. Their design is based on usability, and not so much on all the bells and whistles. They understand most people want their product to work and they want to feel good about what they purchased. They are also very good at finding out what most people want as features. Then they design their products so that a customer will have very little trouble using it. The product is then introduced to the market with an exceptional presentation creating customer evangelists.

With all the controversy, though, will the positive Apple trend continue when the iPhone hits the market?