No See Enough UC at CES

Two UC leaders are noticeably absent from the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: Research In Motion (RIM) and Microsoft. Neither has a booth at the show after deciding in 2012 to instead organize their own dedicated events. RIM intends to launch its latest BlackBerry 10 phones at numerous global media events on January 30. Microsoft ditched CES in 2012, claiming that the timing of the show wasn’t in sync with the company’s scheduled product launches.

More important than the two companies’ lack of physical presence at one of the biggest technology shows in the world, is their absence of mind share. While Apple and Google, also who don’t have official exhibitions at the show, are cropping up everywhere, Microsoft and RIM are missing in action.

The 2013 show is packed with devices from health-care tools and robot toys, to household appliances and unusual gadgets, all of which host a range of embedded connectivity technologies linked to tablet and smart phone apps. In spite of their diversity, these devices have something in common: they are all monitored or controlled using Android and Apple apps, whereas Windows and Blackberry apps are footnotes (or question marks).

“We’re in talks to integrate with [BlackBerry Messenger] and we’re working on a Windows version,” says Jay Samit, president of ooVoo, a video chat service. “But they’re such a niche market.”

Microsoft and RIM have fallen way short of their rival’s sheer quantity of apps – Android and Apple each have around 700,000. Microsoft and RIM are falling further and further behind their rivals as the mobile ecosystem focuses on the two most prevailing smartphone operating systems.

This may not be such a big deal for RIM, who is catering to its mainstay customers – enterprise users rather than consumers. However, the increasing popularity of the BYOD trend is forcing RIM to face up to a mounting challenge: the consumer demand for smart phones with a greater range of connectivity. On the plus side, RIM is boosting the services side of its business to meet the BYOD demand in the hope that it may become the go-to company for enterprises seeking a means to connect all the disparate devices. On the other hand, its device business is being left to stagnate.

In an attempt to compensate, RIM is attempting to simplify the transition of Android apps to Blackberry. So far, Android developers seem to be unmoved by the offer. (CU) Link

2 Responses to "No See Enough UC at CES" - Add Yours

Alan Percy 1/10/2013 8:41:39 AM

I too spent a couple days at CES and was also disappointed at the lack of presence of the unified communications solutions vendors at the event. One big exception was Plantronics, who was showing their latest UC-enabled headsets.

See a brief video I took of the UC Voyager: https://youtu.be/OpnWdzsJ_yY

However, what I did get from the event was the integration between communications and automotive technology. All the major auto manufacturers were exhibiting vehicles with integrated mobility technology. Way beyond basic calling features, the next generation vehicle will sport Android-powered dashboards with Pandora music, Google maps and voice-enabled text messaging. Vehicles will have their own data plan, adding 4G LTE data to your current family plan.

Question I left thinking about: how can UC fit into the automotive experience?

Art Rosenberg 1/10/2013 11:24:26 AM

Regarding the need for UC-enablement for the automotive experience, you might want to read my November post on the at :

https://ucstrategies.com/unified-communications-strategies-views/car-dashboards-join-cebp-uc-and-byod-for-dual-persona-mobile-applications.aspx

Just as responsibilities for driving a car has generated the need to check the driver's alcohol level before allowing the car to start, starting the engine could also automatically change the mode of all inbound notifications to the driver's endpoint device to be voice based, rather than visual. enable text-to-voice message retrieval, provide voice-to-text outbound messaging responses, change the "presence" status of the driver so that text chat is disabled (replaced with "voice chat?"), etc.

There is, of course, a problem of privacy, in terms of any voice-based communications that will be exposed to other people in the car. However, that would be something that can avoided directly by the driver's choice to hear and respond to messages.