Semi Conscious
Slideshow: Hot gadgets for 2012
Dylan McGrath
11/15/2011 1:01 PM EST
With both the holiday season and the Consumer Electronics Show rapidly approaching, it's time to turn our attention to the hot gadgets for 2012.
The pickings are slim. Other than a few expectations—some obvious, some not—detailed on the following pages, analysts don't expect a lot of must have CE gadgets to burn up the Amazon sales rankings in 2012.
"I really don’t see any CE gear becoming the next Beanie Baby or Tickle Me Elmo for 2011," said Jordan Sulburn, a principal analyst for consumer electronics at IHS iSuppli. "The CE industry goes through cycles of innovation, followed by optimization—better, bigger, faster and especially cheaper—and we’re in the latter part of the cycle right now. Even 3-D has been widely available for well over a year now."
According to Selburn, the rapid growth of smart CE devices, including media tablets and smartphones, could mean fewer consumer electronics gadgets under the tree at Christmas time, as functions that previously demanded stand-alone devices get rolled up into tablets, smartphones, TVs and set top boxes.
Back in July, IHS put out a report stating that that rapidly growing sales of multifunction products like tablets and smartphones will contribute to sluggish sales for single-task devices like MP3 players and digital still cameras through at least 2015.
Of course, the rise in smartphones and tablets have contributed to other profound changes in the CE market, particularly the dominance of apps that users buy, download and use on the devices. "A lot of the new gadgets are going to be apps instead of something that you hold in your hand," Selburn said, noting that consumers might have a tough time sticking apps under the tree, though.
In a nutshell, the list of hot gadgets for 2012 will not be dissimilar to the list of hot gadgets for 2011. But as Selburn notes, in the CE optimization cycle, everything gets smaller, faster, better and less expensive.
Next: Media tablets
The pickings are slim. Other than a few expectations—some obvious, some not—detailed on the following pages, analysts don't expect a lot of must have CE gadgets to burn up the Amazon sales rankings in 2012.
"I really don’t see any CE gear becoming the next Beanie Baby or Tickle Me Elmo for 2011," said Jordan Sulburn, a principal analyst for consumer electronics at IHS iSuppli. "The CE industry goes through cycles of innovation, followed by optimization—better, bigger, faster and especially cheaper—and we’re in the latter part of the cycle right now. Even 3-D has been widely available for well over a year now."
According to Selburn, the rapid growth of smart CE devices, including media tablets and smartphones, could mean fewer consumer electronics gadgets under the tree at Christmas time, as functions that previously demanded stand-alone devices get rolled up into tablets, smartphones, TVs and set top boxes.
Back in July, IHS put out a report stating that that rapidly growing sales of multifunction products like tablets and smartphones will contribute to sluggish sales for single-task devices like MP3 players and digital still cameras through at least 2015.
Of course, the rise in smartphones and tablets have contributed to other profound changes in the CE market, particularly the dominance of apps that users buy, download and use on the devices. "A lot of the new gadgets are going to be apps instead of something that you hold in your hand," Selburn said, noting that consumers might have a tough time sticking apps under the tree, though.
In a nutshell, the list of hot gadgets for 2012 will not be dissimilar to the list of hot gadgets for 2011. But as Selburn notes, in the CE optimization cycle, everything gets smaller, faster, better and less expensive.
Next: Media tablets
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EVVJSK
11/15/2011 4:19 PM EST
As you pointed out, it is time for some innovation. Instead of just giving us Smartphones, why not add something to each that differentiates it from others (add in an IR Port that can allow it to double as a A/V remote). Then you can have applications on the remote that will interface with various Cable Box and TV remotes to eliminate the need to spend $150 bucks on one of those Super Remotes. Yes, it might reduce the number of Super Remotes sold, but it will save money and landfill space in the long run.
Too many companies not thinking outside the box at the moment to differentiate their product from others.
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t.alex
11/15/2011 6:10 PM EST
Parrot AR.Drone will be a hot gadget? Its a toy isnt it?
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dylan.mcgrath
11/15/2011 7:56 PM EST
I guess some people would call it a toy. But it's pretty sophisticated and costs $300. Maybe it's a stretch to call this one a hot gadget, but it's pretty cool. "Hot" in this case doesn't mean it's going to sell a bunch of units. But personally I think it would be pretty cool to have one.
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vcruz911
11/29/2011 8:42 AM EST
Hy Dylan, the manufacturer reduced the price to $139, and that includes a 3-year subscription of antivirus, Web-category, & intrusion-protection updates.
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dylan.mcgrath
1/6/2012 6:22 PM EST
Wow, I didn't realize that. Thanks for the info. I still say, even if it is a "toy," it's pretty cool.
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Sheetal.Pandey
11/16/2011 6:14 AM EST
Thanks to its on-board Wi-Fi system, you can control the Parrot AR.Drone using an iPhone®, iPod Touch®, or an iPad®. It was initially designed for the Apple platforms and will be also available on other platforms in the next few months.
You can also control the Parrot AR.Drone from a Linux PC and a joystick with the software AR.Drone Navigation
designed for application developers and available for free.
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Eric Verhulst_Altreonic
11/15/2011 7:20 PM EST
For this to happen we need simple and standardised reliable interconnect standards. Something like Bluetooth with the bandwidth and low latency of Wifi. Too many different connectors on my laptop but not enough on the iPad, iPhone, etc.
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hm
11/15/2011 7:29 PM EST
I would like to see laptop with detachable screen working as tablet with wi-fi and 3G.
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Maybegreat
12/22/2011 4:10 AM EST
It's already happen in China, I think Lenovo or one of other computer maker made that already, but it's not from Sumsung or apple.
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t.alex
12/27/2011 8:31 AM EST
There are also tablet with usb for keyboard and mouse which makes it become laptops.
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Jimmymac
11/15/2011 9:53 PM EST
Let's admit what is happening. We did not INNOVATE. Why? Now there is a thread!
I'll chime in with we do not make anything anymore. So we do not even have a clue how to provide innovative products to users. Marginal (def=at the margin) products is what you get when you forget how to innovate.
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jackOfManyTrades
11/16/2011 3:01 AM EST
Given that Apple doesn't make much (any?) of it's own stuff, have does making stuff make your innovative exactly?
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Robotics Developer
11/15/2011 11:20 PM EST
I must agree that there is not much new that interests me (especially in the current economy). That said, there could be some demand for home theaters if the cost of the larger LCD TVs starts coming down and someone in the home electronics arena sees profits in volume sales of speaker/surround sound systems. Maybe this year is the year of the safe approach, lower costs and drive sales to keep production lines running. Maybe next year the next best gadget will come out.
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GREAT-Terry
11/16/2011 9:37 AM EST
It seems everything now are just a combination of functions being put on a small equipment (tablet, smartphone whatsoever). Is there any real innovation? I guess not! BTW, I'm guessing smartphone will finally be the ultimate gadget that everybody are having and this gadget will have more and more functions integrated. I'm happy to see a gadget that directly talks to people like what the Siri does.
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Nic_Mokhoff
11/16/2011 5:58 PM EST
I agree GREAT-Terry; this is the only innovation to consider as an inflection point in the electronic gadget field. If you consider that it took years and that's genesis was DARPA, having Siri around in 2011 will make her the 'belle of the ball' in 2012. The DARPA angle (one of them): http://www.fastcompany.com/1785221/siri-ously-darpa
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mseekins
11/16/2011 11:00 AM EST
Let's get mobile DTV receivers in our smartphones. Broadcasters are dragging their feet on this one with no mainstream hardware out there. Think of the convience of just pulling out the phone for a quick update on the local news, those replays at the game, or maybe just that one show you don't want to miss.
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Himanshu_Gupta
11/16/2011 1:34 PM EST
the surprise in the list for me is the ultrabooks. I was thinking that any kind of PC/notebook or variation will be dead due to popularity of the tablet devices. Will this ultrabook erode the tablet business?
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p_g
11/17/2011 5:07 AM EST
I see there are people who need full OS to do some jobs. For them tablet dont do the job. But one thing we are missing is that market shares are shifting from normal to ultra light PC but overall PC market is shrinking. Which means normal notebook market is shrinking much faster rate giving more room for ultra light PC.
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dylan.mcgrath
11/17/2011 11:06 AM EST
Will ultrabooks erode the tablet business? I think slightly. I think it's almost a given that almost anyone who decides to buy an ultrabook is not at the same time also going to buy a new tablet. I am not sure how many people that will be, probably a small number. I think that we are reaching a point when all of these devices--tablets, ultrabooks, chromebooks, netbooks and even traditional notebooks and desktop PC--are in a sense competing for the same dollars. The hope is that the upshot is that these new device categories will grow the overall market, but in a sluggish economy I don't know if that effect will be measureable in the short term. Just my two cents.
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Maybegreat
12/22/2011 4:23 AM EST
still don't think tablet is that convenient in many cases, plus labtop's capability is better to do office work.
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K1200LT Rider
11/21/2011 8:30 AM EST
The projected increasing sales of the smartphones suggests we'll all look more and more like a bunch of zombies walking around with our eyes locked onto a little screen. It's already bad enough at my workplace to be rather annoying.
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