You cannot move on the CES 2010 floor without tripping over a 3D TV. Every television maker has decided that, fresh off Avatar, the future of the living room is glasses on your face and depth on your screen. I am going to be the wet blanket here: I do not buy it. Asking people to wear goofy glasses to watch the news is not a revolution, it is a gimmick with a shelf life.
The story that actually matters
The real news is quieter and lives in your hand. Android is arriving in force, not just on phones but on a first wave of tablets and Snapdragon-powered smartbooks. Google has just launched the Nexus One, Palm is back with the Pre Plus, and you can feel the smartphone race shifting from a two-horse contest into something much bigger. The tablet, a category most people still think Apple is about to define, is clearly coming for everyone.
The trend for the year ahead
3D is a dead end and Android is the future. The next twelve months belong to whoever can turn Google’s platform into great hardware, and to the arrival of the tablet as a real product category rather than a science project.
Ignore the 3D glasses in the swag bag. The thing to watch this year is the chip in your phone and the slate that is about to land in everyone’s lap.
Part of 20 Years of CES Through My Lens, my year-by-year diary of the show.