The best of CES 2009

This year I visited CES and Las Vegas for the first time. Everyone said that CES was this year more quiet than ever. The truth is that I did not see anything disruptive but rather evolutions of existing trends. The key things I saw could be summarize in the following points:
-User Experience becoming a "buzz expression": You could hear people talking in multiple contexts about UX. It is clear that there is a new benchmark for new products and services and UX is a key parameter.
-OLED will make flat really thin. Samsung as the front runner. We can expect the next 3 years a race to showcase the thinnest screens, eventually ending in flexible screens in 5 to 7 years.
-3D TVs and projectors will be the next TV upgrade over the next 3 years. Content creators need to undersntand the need to move into this format really fast. At the moment is the main challenge. The user experience is superb.
-QWERTY moves from business to other consumer segments in mobile phones. Motorola, Balckberry and others showcased clam-shells, etc using QWERTY
-Convergence in the living room is finally shaping up. the main challenge is that there is not a consistent good UI for experiencing Internet-like content in the TV screen. Yahoo showcased widgets for TV, quite convincing. I also liked some prototypes from Toshiba to interact with gestures with content on Tv.
-Netbooks are mainstream: not much to say here. Every manufacturer has nowadays their version. My view is that only those that understand the posibility of making netbooks the next communicator will find customers among operators. This will require probably chosing Linux and building a dedicated UI and set of communication applications.
-Digital photo frames, are the next Christmas gadget. I bought the Kodak W820, with RSS capability. It is great what you can do. But the UX is broken and takes 2 days for a connoiseur to set it up.
-GPS is the next must have feature. From phones to cameras, Android and Sony where good examples. Worth reading the Wired issue of this month on this topic.

I missed the new Palm at the show. I saw it the they after I left. However I have a good selection of pictures that can be found at Flickr.