David Pugliese
VP, Product Marketing and Management, Cox Communications

After covering 1.6 million square feet of exhibits throughout the North, Central and South Halls and maneuvering through a maze of humans, I want to share some of the highlights of 2006 CES. What was “big” at CES? In the annual race among the CE manufacturers to produce the biggest TV, the trophy this year goes to Panasonic for their 103 inch plasma display. LG Electronics was just behind with their 102 inch plasma display. Neither of these is available for consumer purchase – just CES display ware. The biggest available at retail is a mere 82 inches Samsung model.

Thinking of buying a new big screen? Here’s a valuable tip that can save you hundreds of dollars: If you can, wait a few months. The prices of those great LCD panel displays have been kept high due to the limited production facilities. Thanks to two new factories coming on line sooner that anticipated, we can expect a pretty big drop in LCD sets this year.

Speaking of big, Microsoft, whose exhibit on the floor rivals the state of Delaware, was really touting Windows Vista which is the next version of their operating system and the bread and butter of Microsoft’s empire. In addition, in what can be a serious bid to iTunes, Microsoft will be launching a music service called Urge, which is a partnership with MTV.

Other than the TV’s, what were the hot products at the 2006 CES? Thanks to G4, whose experts surveyed the show floor and assembled the best new products for a luncheon preview today, I can share some of the hot products of CES. Portable video is definitely one of the hottest categories this year. Dozens of devices and services that promise to take programming off the TV have been introduced. One of these services comes from Google. They announced the planned opening of the Google Video Store enabling consumers to buy and rent a wide range of video content from CBS, NBA games from this and past seasons, cable programmers, independent producers and film makers.

Several new and really cool cell phones were introduced which will also facilitate the portability of video content; the Trio 700 and the Nokia N91 Media Phone. These are not your typical $29.95 phones. They will sell for $400 and $800 respectively. What makes them special? The Trio will utilize EVDO, the high speed wireless service which will allow for much faster downloads of video content. It also has Windows which lets you use many familiar applications with relative ease. The Nokia phone really is more of a media device than a phone. It actually has a 4 GB hard drive (the same size as the IPOD mini), a 2 Megapixel camera (which is really all you need for regular size snapshots) and it is equipped with Wi-Fi and also Bluetooth.

And speaking of Bluetooth, how silly do some people look with those weird Bluetooth earpieces? Well, also offered at the show is Bluetooth jewelry. That’s right, now you can have a much smaller, metallic earpiece that is much nicer looking than any I had previously seen. (But I’m still not going to wear one!)

After the G4 preview, I made a stop at the DISH Network exhibit. In the biggest case of “cable envy” I have ever seen, they were touting their 2006 and 2007 launches of local HD channels. Yes, that means that most DISH Network customers will have to wait until 2010 to see the Winter Olympics in HD. Go USA! However, during my conversation with a DISH Network representative, I immediately wished that I had some kind of recording device. When I asked if an additional dish/antenna would be needed to receive HD content, he actually said; “you know, dishes can look pretty unsightly so no, you don’t need to have two, you just need to replace your current one with a new, larger one!” If only I had one of our “That’s Dish-gusting” calendars to give to him!!