-Hey everyone.
I'm Molly Wood from CNET.com.
And we're looking ahead to the Consumer Electronic Show 2011- our annual gadget Super Bowl.
I'm here with Lindsey Turrentine, Executive Editor at CNET and Erica Ogg, Senior Writer for CNETnews.com.
We're gonna talk a little bit about some of the trends that we're expecting from the show this year.
Now, honestly, ahead of it, it seems like there's really only the one- tablets.
-Tablets everywhere.
-Prepare yourself.
-Yeah.
-Yeah, so what are you guys hearing?
I mean, are we gonna see nonstop Android Tablets?
Is it gonna be all Windows Phone 7.
Erica, what have you heard so far?
-I am expecting a lot of Android Tablets.
I mean, there's a lot of people that have been sort of telegraphing it very obviously, and manufacturers that are saying, oh, end of 2010, early 2011.
So I think we can expect to see those.
I think there are gonna be a lot of 7-inch tablets.
Maybe some that are a little bit smaller.
But I'm thinking probably solidly in the 7-inch area.
-And then, what about those
Windows 7 tablets, not Windows Phone 7?
The bomber Keynote is expected to showcase a lot of those.
Frankly, we saw some last year.
Where have they been?
-We've been catching it for awhile now.
And we've seen big advances in the Android side.
We're probably gonna see Android with Honeycomb- the Honeycomb version which is optimized for those tablets.
So we're really curious to see what we get out of Windows because so far, we know nothing.
-Yeah, they're more than a little bit behind the curb.
It seems like everyone is- do you think we'll see tablets like the Playbook?
They're primarily
kind of aimed at the business base, trying to sidestep the iPad, or are we gonna finally see some true iPad competition?
-I think we're gonna see all kinds of tablets.
Anything you can think of, you'll probably see it.
-And then, of course, the big shadow that's hanging over CES is the possibility of the Verizon iPhone.
Let's, you know, like, what do you think of the odds here?
Let's go out on a limb, play some bets.
Lindsey, what are the odds of the Verizon iPhone being announced during CES?
-During CES, I think slim to none.
I think that
there are good odds, I don't know, 40%, that it can be announced just before CES.
Pull the rug out from underneath a lot of other Android announcements.
-Well, that, and Verizon has a very prominent slot in the Keynote lineup at the show.
So, it would be interesting if Apple chose, maybe 2 days before, 3 days before, to talk about the new iPhone and maybe Verizon would talk about, you know, 4G and you know, how it would work on that potentially, we don't know.
But it would definitely pull a rug out from under, you know, poor CEO Verizon.
-Yeah.
-Steal the thunder a little bit.
But, you know, who knows?
-Well, and Apple has done that before.
I mean, didn't they announce the iPad right during CES?
They have certainly, or was it the MacBook?
-The original iPhone.
-That's right.
-That was back when we had Mac World, and we don't have Mac World anymore at, you know, at the same time slots.
-Right.
But we do have a little bit of an Apple pavilion.
So it would certainly be set-up for a bunch of accessories, or who knows what else.
-We know that Apple never
lets carriers steal the thunder.
So, Apple announcing the iPhone right before the show, would allow Verizon to discuss its plans.
-How generous of them.
-Yes.
-Well, speaking of phones, it sounds like smartphones are actually gonna, for really kind of the first time, have a major presence at CES.
Usually they're a little bit of a smaller category.
What are we expecting there?
-We're expecting some exciting advances, like dual core Android phones, which are fast and exciting.
Probably a lot of apps for the
first time ever.
CES has never been a software show.
And we're hearing buzz about, you know, smaller apps but still a lot of talk about apps at the show.
And perhaps some presentations and exciting new stuff.
So, you know, we're excited to see discussion of content at CES.
-Yeah, interesting.
And then, of course, TVs are always huge- front and center at CES.
-Right.
-Are they gonna be pushing 3D TV again this year, beating that drum?
-I think they are.
You know, last year was when they kind of, they made like the big
splash.
I think we've seen from sales, people aren't super excited about having 3D at home.
I mean, in the theater is a different story but at home, sort of lukewarm about it.
But I think we are gonna see more of that.
Now, what they do in terms of you know, with glasses, without glasses.
You know, what type of glasses- that's gonna be interesting to see, which directions manufacturers are going.
-Yeah.
And then, I have to say, a surprisingly big turn this year seems to be connected cars.
I mean, there's always a car presence at CES.
But this year, you have Ford and
Audi both keynoting.
I mean, cars, you know, the next place for the internet?
-It's huge.
Well, every year there's a car tech pavilion.
And it's just getting bigger and bigger every year.
And we expect to see a lot of connected stuff in the dashboard,
-Yeah.
-from many manufacturers.
-It's pretty crazy.
Cars are gonna be little internet connected TVs, or internet connected devices on wheels.
-Yes.
-That sounds super safe.
Hopefully there will also be self-driving cars, because we need them, right?
-That would be cool.
-Thank you so much Lindsey and
Erica.
I'll see you at CES.
You can also look for all of CNET's coverage at ces.cnet.com.
There will be a lot of it.
It's starting Wednesday January 5th, 2011.
You can watch all the major press conferences live on CNET that day, including LG, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony.
Followed by wall to wall live coverage from the show floor during CES culminating of course in CNET's best of CES Awards on Saturday January 8th at 11 a.m.
pacific time.
I am tired just thinking about it.
But I'll see you then.
