CES 2015 - Sensors and Sensibility - Internet Everywhere, Everyware, and Everywear

This excuse for a blog is starting its Season XI, at its own pace - about a post a month, far from the twice-a-week-routine of its heyday.

And as usual, the new year resonates with echoes from Vegas glitz and the CES.

So far, nothing disruptive, only recurrent stuff looming on a less distant horizon. No brain implants, mind you - Apple won't release iSingularity before a while, but driverless cars (Audi A7, BMW i3...), pervasive sensors, drones, cameras, and virtual reality, and an internet that keeps going everywhere, everyware, and everywear.

Samsung promises IoT on all its devices by 2017, and Tizen on its TVs as early as next month. But still no TTM for Tizen on smartphones.

Intel showed its RealSense 3D sensors, and smaller players their latest face-recognition-enabled cameras, ideal for a family, household, or small community/company: ArcSoft's Simplicam can deal with up to 10 regulars, and Netatmo's Welcome (TTM Q2 2015) can extend its reach through "Welcome Tags". Look how the Simplicam exsudes bigbrotherian power, where welcome plays on a rather 'air freshener' mode (netatmo again on the glam side of the force - remember last year's JUNE? - see "CES 2014: Beep Beep Goes Bling Bling"):

Welcome by netatmo

Simplicam by ArcSoft

Interesting to see how marketers try to give different flavors to similar enablers or functionalities. Camera-wise, for instance, the Narrative Clip 2 proposes a GoAm answer to GoPro - or is it dull vs bull? If this clipable, mini camera can also record everything as you go, it is marketed like a simple diary for ordinary people. Low expectations as a new driver for innovation, I like that.

And yes, we've got the unavoidable collection or more-or-less-pseudo-healthy wearables. At least, from the outlook, Withings's Activite Pop won't appear too obsolete next year, because it pretty much look like a normal watch:



NeuroMetrix's Quell aims at actual medical cure: this Bluetooth wrap-on sends neuro-signals to relieve pain.

But the winner of Day 1 remains Emiota's Belty, a Bluetooth belt that adjusts to your eating record. A must for anyone willing to cope with European austerity measures.

emiota's Belty - austerity rules!

mot-bile 2015

Daum Kakao, Google Campus... Korean platforms on steroids

Yesterday, Daum and Kakao Corp announced that they would merge on October 1st, and Google that its first Google Campus in Asia would be located in Seoul.

The Daum Kakao merger looks rather defensive: before everything, it creates a stronger competitor to NHN, the leader operating among others the main rivals to Daum and Kakao Talk: Naver and LINE.

NHN and Daum are rare exceptions as successful newcomers in a country where start-ups struggle to survive in an ecosystem dominated by chaebols: as soon as a new gem shows some potential, the big fishes try to eat it, or to destroy it with me-toos leveraging on in-house countless entry points, or to control it by becoming its sole 'partner'. 

NHN and Daum could storm the web at the turn of the millennium, when mobile operators where busy building proprietary environments, and other chaebol focusing as usual on hardware. They built competitive platforms that even resisted Google, who only managed to gain strongholds in Korea thanks to Android. Typically, even if Naver maintains its leadership in web searches, Google could 'crowd-boost' Google Maps or Google Translate, with the help of smartphone manufacturers who were too happy to have a platform rivaling Apple to care about the hidden costs.

As we've said before, Samsung and LG helped Google BtoB (OEM) succeed where Google BtoC (portal) failed, and all they can do now is send a Tizen to nibble at the heavyweight champion's ears. 

There's a finite space for major value aggregators in Korea, and as Samsung's latest attempt to build a sustainable platform beyond hardware, Tizen probably accelerated the need for rivals to stretch their reach.

Big G needed to beef up its Asian ecosystem and Korea seems the perfect choice: Android rules, start-ups need competitive platforms to survive chaebol bullies, and Mountain View has the opportunity to weaken some of its most serious competitors on their own turf. Bonus: by supporting Korea's SME and creative ecosystem, you gain the favors of local authorities and regulators.

Anyway, good news for Korea's attractiveness... but yet higher entry barriers for potential major newcomers.




ADDENDUM 20140828: let's guess which 'independent' whistleblower suggested Korean watchdog to investigate Kakao Corp in the wake of the merger ("Kakao under probe for allegedly abusing market power: sources")




mot-bile 2014

Freebies in? Mojo out!

If you're a frequent flyer on these miserable errlines (believe me, I feel your pain), you've been prepared years ahead for Apple's and Samsung's troubles.

The Apple case is very simple: Cupertino lost the leadership in smartphones the day they decided not to open their platforms to other manufacturers. You can't beat manufacturers and users demographics, and the Android community was bound to catch up very quickly.

For Samsung, the "Nokia Syndrom" hits a leader that can't cover all bases when commoditization strikes. It's not how far you stretch in today's range of products, but how deep you stretch into tomorrow's value chains. Nokia kept churning out great stuff from its research centers, yet didn't convert them into innovations because the leadership forgot to focus on innovation itself. Samsung is very much aware of the need to extend its leadership into fields more sustainable than hardware design, but that's easier said than done (Bada? Tizen?). And as smartphones become commodities, it's getting harder to differentiate from Chinese or Indian players that can themselves sell massively and invest massively in research (Xiaomi, Micromax... Motorolax?).

If plummeting market shares are only sanctions from the market, giving away freebies remains the ultimate sign that a leader is losing its mojo. Significantly, the freebies that signaled the end of the race for innovation leadership came in the form of cash for shareholders (see "Apple - the end of the affair"). Samsung chose to bribe endusers instead, by giving away gifts across Southeast Asia markets (see "Samsung Localizes Southeast Asia Strategy" - WSJ 20140811). 

A quick fix before the next big hit. Maybe the Galaxy Note 4 next month, supposedly a LG G3 killer that could come in flat and curve versions, and preferably unbuzz the upcoming Apple iPhone 6.

But again*, we're talking Fall/Winter collections here, not game changers.

mot-bile 2014

* remember "Apple's Ready to Ware v. Fast-Fashion"?

Samsung Galaxy S5, The (Almost) Next Big Thing Is Here

"The Next Big Thing Is Almost Here", that's how Samsung Galaxy S5 is announced on Samsung.com US:

Of course, what you read is "The Almost Next Big Thing Is Here". Here? Barcelona, at the 2014 Mobile World Congress.

Analysts seem disappointed by the last generation of the leader's star product, but it simply confirms the long expected commoditization of smartphones. Like computers before, performances will keep improving, and more enablers shall bring interesting changes in the future, but the device itself has reached a plateau for a while.

Even smartwatches and smartwrists have become commodities*: meet Samsung Gear 2, Samsung Gear 2 Neo, and Samsung Gear Fit.

Boring? Not so much: Gear has switched to Tizen, the - of course Linux based - OS propelled by majors who don't want Google and Android to rule, but don't want to resurrect Microsoft or Jobs either. Samsung already launched a Tizen camera last fall, and continues its low-key approach from minor connected accessories... 

This Tizen ain't the world heavyweight champion yet

I'm waiting for Tizen on a heavyweight boxing ring, not just around a wrist.
Ah, if only Samsung had a iTunes to leverage, that could boost the launch of a Tizen smartphone. And unlike Apple 2007, Samsung 2014 can't afford to launch a technologically imperfect first model...


mot-bile 2014

* MWC confirms CES: see "CES 2014: Beep Beep Goes Bling Bling"