AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

The End of Tech for Tech’s Sake - Advertising Age

CES Show Delivers No Killer App as Marketers Focus on What Consumers Want

If you expected to find the next big thing at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show, you’re probably still looking.

Record numbers of marketers and agency types have been joining the legions of nerds that descend on Sin City every year to ogle new gadgets, but the one thing they’re not discovering is that one new technology that changes everything about how to reach consumers. CES darlings have been a mixed bag when it comes to long-term success — everything from the Sony MiniDisc to the DVD has been rolled out there — and this year has only extended that spotty record.

In fact, the tech product that got the most attention last week wasn’t even unveiled at the show. The new Mac Pro was announced by Apple, which forgoes CES for its Macworld Expo. Michael Gartenberg, analyst at Jupiter Research, was representative of the show’s cranky reception in the blogosphere: “The fact that Apple can take headlines with new Mac Pros [which aren't servers] is more a testament to how little there is at CES this year in terms of the new and innovative than Apple being mean. Apple didn’t need to take thunder from CES; there was nothing to take.”

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