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Motorola, Disney, Nokia and Pipelines Executives Launch 40th Anniversary of CES
Contact: Tara Dunion, 703-907-7419, tdunion@CE.org; Sarah Szabo, 703-474-8053, sszabo@CE.org; both with the Consumer Electronics Association
Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, the producer of the International CES, kicked off the 2007 show Monday morning with his "State of the Industry Address." He spoke about the "new convergence" taking place in the CE industry and forecast that the CE industry will soar to $155 billion in 2007. Shapiro cautioned against putting limits on innovation and technology and urged attendees to support Digital Freedom, a grassroots coalition designed to protect the rights of artists, consumers and innovators to use digital technology and lawfully required content. Shapiro highlighted the coalition's presence at CES, in the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) lobby, and on the web at digitalfreedom.org.
Directly following Shapiro's address, Ed Zander, president and CEO of Motorola, delivered the opening day keynote. The theme was seamless mobility using the Internet as Zander rode onstage on a bike that can power a cell phone. Zander stated that people around the world are getting connected with 25 million mobile phones sold each second. To do its part, Motorola is focusing on connecting the unconnected in emerging markets with its inexpensive Motofone.
"Everything is becoming digital and everything with a digital heartbeat will get connected," he said. The company is focusing on cool mobile devices and creating cool experiences for users, enterprise mobility and the home to go. Zander announced new partnerships and performed ground-breaking demonstrations with Yahoo!, called Y! Go, Kodak, the Razr Z6 and the "Moto Follow Me TV" that sends live video streams to a mobile handset through an IP set-top box. Zander said, "It truly is the Internet in your pocket," and concluded, "The home is the hub of seamless mobility."
Monday's second keynote featured Robert Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company. With a "Monday Night Keynote" theme, Iger explained how Disney's tremendous success has come from the timelessness of great characters and storylines, along with cutting-edge technologies. Iger stated that no company currently delivers more content in more ways to more people than the Walt Disney Company, and introduced several friends to help demonstrate the wealth of content Disney currently produces and distributes.
First, from the ABC network, stars from the award winning series "LOST," Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, talked about the multi-platform experience now providing fans more interaction with the program. Mike Tirico, lead announcer of "Monday Night Football" joined Iger on stage to explain the demand from ESPN fans to be plugged into instant information and live coverage from anywhere and at anytime. Currently, fans in 102 countries can watch ESPN live.
Iger's biggest announcements of the evening included the launch of the redesigned, interactive and "extreme digital" Disney.com website and the confirmation of "Pirates of the Caribbean III, At the World's End." Jerry Bruckheimer, renowned Hollywood producer, joined Iger on stage to show a teaser for Pirates III and announced that Keith Richards will be making a cameo in the film. Iger concluded with his promise to continue to provide cutting-edge creative content for innovative new CE products.
Monday also launched the CES Industry Insider Series with an address from Nokia president and CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, and a Pipelines Power Panel focused on the various platforms for delivery of content.
Kallasvuo's presentation focused on mobility, Internet, communities and convenience. He stated that Nokia's newest products would provide great features and richer experiences, particularly in the new models of digital cameras and wireless phones, the latter of which will include real-time navigation and search capabilities.
The Pipelines Power Panel, moderated by CEA's Shapiro, debated the state of content delivery and the importance of HDTV to both the stakeholders and their consumers. The panel featured heavy hitters from leading broadcast, cable, satellite and telecommunications companies including Chase Carey, president and CEO, DIRECTV, Inc.; Charles W. Ergen, chairman and CEO, Echostar Communications Corporation; Virginia Ruesterholz, president, Verizon Telecom; Glenn A. Britt, president and CEO, Time Warner Cable; David J. Barrett, president and CEO, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. and Patrick J. Esser, president, Cox Communications, Inc. The Pipelines panelists discussed competitive differentiators and services that cut across multiple delivery platforms.
Also on Monday, CES celebrated its 40th anniversary with a bash on the ESPN/CEA Stage in the LVCC Grand Lobby. Gary Shapiro was joined on stage by Jack Wayman, the "Father of CES," along with Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Dan Cole, CEA's vice president of Business Development, to honor the four decades of the International CES and the 2007 exhibitors that also exhibited at the first show in 1967.
The extensive lineup of CES conference sessions launched on Monday with the first International CES SuperSession of 2007, "Understanding Consumer Digital Ecosystems" which focused on convergence and interoperability. SuperSession panelists included Tim Bajarin, president, Creative Strategies Inc.; Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president, Global Marketing, HP; Dr. Levy Gerzberg, president and CEO, Zoran Corporation; David Jaworski, CEO, Pass Along Networks; Eric Kim, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Home Group , Intel; Frans van Houten, CEO, NXP Semiconductors. The panelists agreed that consumers are increasingly seeking devices that work together to create a digital ecosystem of CE products. Bajarin stated that the digital ecosystems of today include the cell phone, personal computer and TV and concluded that the future of these ecosystems would broaden to further devices, leaving no product a stand alone island.
In Monday's session, "Congress Talks Tech," Jon Healy, editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times, moderated a discussion among Congressmen Tom Davis (R-VA), Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Jon Porter (R-NV). The conversation opened with a welcome from Congressman Porter,
The home health technology SuperSession, "The Future of Consumer Electronics: Convergence With Home Health," provided a sneak preview of the potential that consumer electronics could bring to the health care industry. Charles S. Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research, moderated a lively discussion on the future relationship between home heath care and consumer technology with panelists Doug Busch, CTO, Digital Health Group, Intel Corporation; Gary Feather, director, Digital AV Systems, Sharp Laboratories of America; William Lalinde, M.B.A., H.S.A., business manager, MOTOHEALTH, iDEN Sector, Global Mobile Devices Business, Motorola, Inc.; Jeff Perry, business manager, ConnectedCare - Motiva, Philips Consumer Healthcare Solutions and Dave Watson, CIO, Kaiser Permanente. The panelists discussed a growing transformation of the healthcare industry, stemming from consumer technology including powerful personal telemedicine tools, such as home-based, tele-monitoring products for patients.
A standing-room only crowd attended Monday's final SuperSession, "CNET's Next Big Thing," moderated by CNET.com, editor-at-large, Brian Cooley. Cooley was joined by CNET colleagues Tom Merritt and Molly Wood, as well as a consumer representative, Nate Lanxon, who won a CNET Backstage Crew trip to the International CES. The session featured panel discussions, video presentations and audience polling surrounding three key themes: mobile video content, Internet downloaded or streamed content and digital rights management (DRM).
Commercial video content, delivered to a variety of portable products such as mobile phones, MP3 players and game players, was characterized as a disruptive technology as it is challenging established business models. An audience poll revealed that news clips and sports highlights would most intrigue consumers, but full-length TV programming and specialized content were suggested as adoption drivers by industry experts in a video presentation and panel discussion.
Panelists agreed bandwidth limitations would hamper Internet downloading of content in the near-term, but disagreed as to whether or not it would ever completely replace physical media. Some argued consumers hold dear the collectible aspect of physical media while others suggested that it could become a specialty industry in a networked content world. The audience was split with 44 percent saying DVD will give way to Internet video sooner than later and 56 percent disagreeing.
Two additional panelists joined the stage for the final theme of digital rights management - CEA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Michael Petricone and Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Executive Vice President and Special Policy Advisor Fritz Attaway. Arguing in favor of some sort of DRM technology going forward, Attaway said people "need to be reminded of the deal they made." Lanxon retorted that DRM is so easily undermined that it is ineffective, and seeing a friend hauled off to prison for illegally using content would be reminder enough to most consumers. He added he would be happy to pay twice as much for content if he were allowed to enjoy it on his CE products when, where and how he wanted. Petricone noted the industry is so concerned about onerous limitations on consumers and technology that it is significantly rallying around the new Digital Freedom campaign.
For more news on the 2007 International CES, including keynote transcripts and photos, visit www.CESweb.org, the interactive source for CES information.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry through technology policy, events, research, promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA represents more than 2,100 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of audio, video, mobile electronics, wireless and landline communications, information technology, digital imaging, home networking, multimedia and accessory products, as well as related services that are sold through consumer channels. Combined, CEA's members account for more than $140 billion in annual sales. CEA's resources are available online at www.CE.org, the definitive source for information about the consumer electronics industry. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES - Defining Tomorrow's Technology. All profits from CES are reinvested into industry services, including technical training and education, industry promotion, engineering standards development, market research and legislative advocacy.
