Storage, Emerging Technologies, World Changers, Sales Leaders

I arrived in Las Vegas in the evening of January 3, 2015. The International CES 2015 is actually held on January 6-9, 2015. The reason for my early arrival was because I had to attend another conference, “Storage Visions 2015” at the Riviera Hotel and the Pre-CES media events at the Mandalay Bay. 

In this digital age, we now deal with digital content. The concern is how these contents, be they texts, audio or music, video or movies, or TV shows, are stored either for archiving or temporary storage for easy and fast retrieval.

STORAGE

The “Storage Visions 2015” convention tackled these issues as exhibitors and speakers discuss the latest technologies in storing contents in regular desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones and other digital devices. 

The growing memory capacities that could be installed in the digital devices are indeed amazing. For example, there is now a mini-drive that has a memory capacity of 20 TB (Terabytes) or 20,000 GB.

Jeff Qin, Vice President of Facebook got my full attention when he spoke. I captured some of the numbers in his presentation. According to him, 82% of monthly active users are outside of the U.S. (as of Q3’14).

Daily, there are 930 million photo uploads, 6 billion likes, and 12 billion messages. Serving 1.3 billion users, he explained how Facebook manages its storage and retrieval capabilities. 

Jeff Qin claims that Facebook is only 14% finished. That is because the 1.3 billion users are only 14% of the total world population. 

Pre-CES for Media

The presentation of Dr. Shawn Dubravac, Chief Economist and Senior Director of Research for CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) on the State of Consumer Electronic Industry was quite informative.

He discussed the following Emerging Technologies:

Wearables: A device revolution

(1) Smart watches: $3.1 billion in revenue

11 million units sold;

(2) Smart Eyewear: $181 million in revenue

125,000 units sold;

(3) Fitness and activity trackers: $1.8 billion in revenue

20 million units sold;

Note: 85% of consumers agree that using a fitness and activity tracker is motivating them to reach their fitness goals.

World Changers:

1) Drones: $102.8 million in revenue

341,000 units;

2) 3D Printers: $91 million in revenue

Note: 76% of owners use their 3D printers daily/several times a week

Smart Thermostats:

$282 million in revenue

Note: 20% of broadband households plan to buy smart home devices in 2015.

He also showed us the results on sales.

SALES LEADERS:

Smartphones: $51.3 billion in revenue

169 million units

Tablets: $24.5 billion in revenue

79.6 million units 

Automotive Electronic: $14 billion in revenue

Bigger is Better

4 K Ultra HD: $4.9 billion in revenue (106% increase)

4 million unit shipments expected 

LCD Flat Panels: $17.4 billion in revenue

 Note: TV larger than 50 inches will account for 11.3 million units in 2015. Up 8.1%

INTERNATIONAL CES

The numbers tell a very powerful story as we examine the independently audited figures of last year’s CES conference.

Attendees: 160,498; Exhibitors: 3,673; 80% of the Top 100 U.S. CE Retailers; 82% of FORTUNE 500; 220 Startups; 1,804 Government Professionals; 6,575 media; 40,828 International visitors; 17,434 Presidents, CEOs and Owners; 2.88 Billion Impressions #2014.

Based on my observation, I have no doubt that International CES 2015 will surpass all previous measurable performances.