Amazon, Apple and Google Steal The Show at CES (blogs.com) 60
An anonymous reader shares a report: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and this week's CES is clearly showing how what was once the way companies did business, has changed, and at the same time, what's old is new again and companies who once fought with each other are finding new ways to be allies. For example, Apple stopped licensing in 1997. Now they're redefining licensing by making it easier for anyone to access their iTunes platform. That's called distribution. What's next? Letting anyone make an iPhone -- I think NOT. Taken on face so far, it's clear Apple, Google and Amazon are dominating CES. News about assistants being deployed by multiple brands, new features and uses of the AI backed functionality and most of all iTunes ending up on Samsung, Vizio, and other smart TV brands. That and pure word play on the famed "what goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas" line tied to your privacy.
Looking more closely, neither Amazon, Apple nor Google has really introduced any new products themselves. No new iPhones or MacBooks. No new Homes, Hubs, Mini's or Pixelbooks and no new Echos were introduced. But all three are dominating the news and over time, your wallets directly and indirectly. In everyway possible, they have mastered the hardware channel at this year's CES and at the same time proved that "software really is eating the world." But what about all the news about them you say? Well, its all indeed smoke and mirrors, with the media jumping on the names of Apple, Amazon, and Google when in reality what we have is a roll-out of services. Yes, those same services Tim Cook talked about is what caused the ill-informed stock market types to think Apple was a bad stock to hold onto, who misunderstand Google's real motivations, and who have yet to really see Amazon for what they are.
Looking more closely, neither Amazon, Apple nor Google has really introduced any new products themselves. No new iPhones or MacBooks. No new Homes, Hubs, Mini's or Pixelbooks and no new Echos were introduced. But all three are dominating the news and over time, your wallets directly and indirectly. In everyway possible, they have mastered the hardware channel at this year's CES and at the same time proved that "software really is eating the world." But what about all the news about them you say? Well, its all indeed smoke and mirrors, with the media jumping on the names of Apple, Amazon, and Google when in reality what we have is a roll-out of services. Yes, those same services Tim Cook talked about is what caused the ill-informed stock market types to think Apple was a bad stock to hold onto, who misunderstand Google's real motivations, and who have yet to really see Amazon for what they are.
Re: Boring (Score:1)
Yep. Very. CES is pointles these days. I can't remember the last time there was any real innovation that does society any real good. Plenty of bad and perhaps that's why Apple, Amazon and Google dominate the show.
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When the biggest news is that Apple has been forced to open up its services a bit to get new customs, rather than some interesting new tech, you know things have stagnated.
It's kind of a weird time to have a trade show though. Everyone gets all their new stuff out for xmas. This is the new project time with an eye on release later in the year. All the new phones are due around October...
Well, Nissan announced a new Leaf. It's a bit "meh" but it's something.
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CES still seems to still be where new TVs are launched, so if you're in the market for one, this is a good time to see if there is anything interesting coming, or if you should be looking to grab last year's model at a discount.
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That's true. Those OLEDs do look nice, although they are mostly just an incremental upgrade from last year. In fact the reviewers seem to be saying you might as well save some cash and buy last year's model.
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Yup. I have my eye on a particular TV, and I was hoping to see essentially the same thing with an extra HDMI port or two. I just don't get why they're so stingy with those, especially when they want the TV to be the hub of everything with smart menus and such, but then they push you towards using a switch (in your receiver or otherwise). I'm hardware must be just pennies, but I'm guessing the limiting factor is patent fees. Now if they just updated HDMI to let the TV see the downstream switch and contro
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I think the new CEC spec supports switches being controlled by the TV, but don't quote me on that.
The lack of HDMI ports is frustrating. I think they use it to upsell higher end models by throwing in an extra port or two.
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If CEC spec supports that, then it's a matter of smart TVs getting smarter to detect it and treat ports on compliant switches just like native ports. That would be really cool and solve the port shortage problem. Now if only I worked for Roku or someone like that...
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Not even really true. Except for the apple TV thing, which I only heard in passing in a general article listing all the TV related announcements and isn't even really about apple or innovation, this is the first I've seen any reporting on any of these three from CES this year and all this article claims is the opposite of my personal experience so I am inclined to consider it a paid promotion to try and make up for their lack of impact.
Re:Boring (Score:4, Funny)
Same old shit, in a new wrapper. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I'm not sure how they manage to get from "Looking more closely, neither Amazon, Apple nor Google has really introduced any new products themselves," all the way to "steal the show."
Or, to rephrase the entire story, "Burble burble burble PROMO burble burble CONSUME burble burble. fnord"
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Same old shit, in a new wrapper. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I'm not sure how they manage to get from "Looking more closely, neither Amazon, Apple nor Google has really introduced any new products themselves," all the way to "steal the show."
Or, to rephrase the entire story, "Burble burble burble PROMO burble burble CONSUME burble burble. fnord"
Errm, isn't getting all the press despite not even being at the show pretty close to the definition of "stealing the show"?
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If that is the only reason for the show, then that would be true.
I thought the show was to convince purchasing people that their stuff is going to be the Next Big Thing in the rapidly-approaching holiday shopping season. If that was really the reason, then whatever the media said wouldn't even count for anything.
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If that is the only reason for the show, then that would be true.
Ooops, I forgot all about the booth babes, sorry.
I thought the show was to convince purchasing people that their stuff is going to be the Next Big Thing in the rapidly-approaching holiday shopping season. If that was really the reason, then whatever the media said wouldn't even count for anything.
You make it sound like the vast majority of the public makes their buying decision based on actually going to the show instead of getting the info from the media. We're not in the early 80s any more.
It's bad form to submit your own blog articles. (Score:1)
n/t
Apple TV vs. iTunes on Competitors (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple's attempt to get media on your TV was their AppleTV product that didn't do so well. While they would love to control all the hardware, they're more afraid of losing out on media to Amazon, NetFlix, Google, Spotify, and many others. If that happens, it's one less tie into the iPhone ecosystem, and Apple won't risk that.
Streaming is convenient, but not so much if you have to keep switching services to get everything you want, so all the big players want to be your one true provider. Limiting access is a strategy for failure.
Re:Apple TV vs. iTunes on Competitors (Score:4, Insightful)
I've never understood why Apple wants to be a content producer, rather than just be the best available ecosystem
Simple, Content Producers get paid over and over and over and over again for the same product. Think of that movie you saw at the theater, then rented on dvd, then watched on cable. Hardware products don't have as much churn, and unless you lock in a large market to begin with you never make a second sell to a consumer. If Apple had both they would dominate the market, much like cable providers and cable boxes of the past.
Apple is more on the road to taking a middleman cut, they don't make the content nor do they make the device its consumed on, but they do make a percentage for matching the two up. Hmm, when I put it that way is Apple a pimp?
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Apple is more on the road to taking a middleman cut, they don't make the content nor do they make the device its consumed on, but they do make a percentage for matching the two up. Hmm, when I put it that way is Apple a pimp?
Actually, they're more on their way to being a content creator, coming from the middle man cut. They've got at least 30 [macworld.com] projects announce that are exclusive to them, including an adaptation of Asimov's Foundation series and an unnamed (or no known name for yet) Ronald D. Moore series (as well as tons of other, non-scifi and sci-fi content). I'm not sure I want that stuff to work out or not...
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There are three I might check in on: Time Bandits, Amazing Stories, and what Ronald Moorre comes up with. Most of the shows listed just don't appeal to me though.
Also I wonder about a few of them. Like the Oprah deal. It seems like they are buying rights to programs; which is fine, but they aren't exactly the content creators themselves.
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Microsoft went through a similar vanity publishing phase, that's how we got Slate and MSNBC. But it didn't last. Microsoft found that publishing is much harder work than shipping software.
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The number of people who know or care about Azimov is a tiny sliver of humanity. You and I know about it, but try your sister. Sinking a bunch of money producing this only to distribute on a network with subscriber share that rounds to zero seems predictive of where this project is heading.
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The number of people who know or care about Azimov is a tiny sliver of humanity. You and I know about it, but try your sister. Sinking a bunch of money producing this only to distribute on a network with subscriber share that rounds to zero seems predictive of where this project is heading.
Right, but a ton of other people know Opera, James Corden's Carpool Karaoke stuff, the guys from It's Always Sunny, etc.
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The number of people who know or care about Azimov is a tiny sliver of humanity.
Yeah, just a little higher than those who even heard of Phillip K. Dick or Margaret Atwood.
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They need to be a content producer since Amazon, HBO, and Netflix all are doing it (and soon Disney). If they don't produce their own content, then they have no real story to tell as to why people should use their service instead of the others.
If we had laws separating content creators and distributors with mandatory distribution licensing to prohibit long-term exclusive contracts, then we would likely be in a much better situation for consumers in streaming, as you could pick any service, and you would ge
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The difference with Amazon, HBO, and Netflix is, they actually have a user base. Some change of getting a recovery on their content investment.
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I would guess that it's two factors.
One is that business evolves, and the content business is now big money.
The other is the content business is still getting people to buy iPhones, but they're willing to sacrifice other hardware if it keeps people in their ecosystem buying iPhones.
Headline is partially correct. (Score:1)
Amazon and Google dominated the show.
As usual apple was there only to steal things.
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Amazon and Google dominated the show. As usual apple was there only to steal things.
That "thief" is one of the most successful and valuable companies in the history of capitalism. They appear to be doing something right, as hundreds of millions of consumers continue to buy and support "stolen" products.
What goes on in Vegas stays in the Cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
What goes on in Vegas stays in Facebook,Google,Amazon.
What goes on in Vegas stays with Facebook partners.
What goes on in Vegas you snap-chatted will be resurrected in 10 years.
What goes on in Vegas stays in your cell provider's location DB; which is for sale.
What goes on in Vegas stays in Facebook,Google,Amazon,Apple profiles.
Vote?
Lazy, Disconnected Media (Score:3)
There's probably a YouTube channel with a few tens of thousands of subscribers that does a much better job covering these events than any of the people writing for the mainstream rags or some of these so-called technology websites. There's still good and interesting coverage out there, but you'll have to do a bit more digging.
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A 7nm GPU can also fit in that space
I'm not surprised... (Score:1)
iTunes on a TV? (Score:2)
Maybe its because theres not much to say... (Score:3)
Slashvertisement (Score:2)
This is one of the worst Slashvertisements I've ever seen. I've been following CES 2019 and I've not seen anyone give half a shit about virtual assistants, and I've not seen anyone even care that Amazon, Apple, and Google showed up.
Did I miss something (Score:2)