The Winners And Losers Of CES 2012 - RIMM a winner and AAPL a loser.

[BBNation]

Article on techcrunch site.

RIM
I must admit I wasn’t expecting much from RIM, and I guess in the end they didn’t have that much to offer: a hands-on with the PlayBook 2.0 update. But I’m really glad we stopped by, and I think RIM showed that they are still a force to be reckoned with in some respects. The PlayBook, whipping boy of the tech blogs, is made far more complete by the addition of the email, contacts, and calendar features. If they had released this, and perhaps at a slightly lower price than they were selling it for at launch, I think the tech world would have been genuinely enthusiastic. In our interview with them, I wasn’t just buttering them up when I said I would certainly recommend the PlayBook over an iOS or Android device for the purposes of day-to-day productivity, enterprise, and so on. The PlayBook, I said, was a breach birth, its non-critical consumer-facing functions emerging foremost, and its essential business and productivity functions delayed dangerously. Now that they’ve been delivered (so to speak), I can safely say the PlayBook is a far better tablet than it was, and that Google and Apple should take a look at some of their clever and powerful gesture and UI work.

Losers
Apple
People have been saying that the shadow of Apple would fall darkly on CES, that everyone would be spooked about the imminent presence of the new iPad and the rumored iTV, that it would be a show of Apple clones. The truth is that no one really seemed to be thinking much about Apple one way or the other. We saw phones taking design in interesting directions, tablets with diverse uses, business models that move beyond iTunes, and smart TVs that the companies seemed pretty excited about, not defeatist or pathetic. The only place Apple showed up was in the accessories area, and the new items we saw, more often than not, were careful to accommodate Android and other devices as well. CES just isn’t Apple’s show, which isn’t much of a surprise to some, but others want to believe that Apple has a presence even where it isn’t. CES showed this year that, news coverage patterns notwithstanding, the tech world doesn’t revolve around Apple; it revolves around a weird and splendid panoply of overly specific gadgets, raw components, and foreign niche markets

[Knightcrawler]

interesting that it was a techcrunch article....very interesting

[drjay868]

Thanks for posting... I have no desire to give that site another hit.

Very surprising tho. A TC piece that is actually unbiased... wow.

[Rickroller]

CES showed this year that, news coverage patterns notwithstanding, the tech world doesn’t revolve around Apple; it revolves around a weird and splendid panoply of overly specific gadgets, raw components, and foreign niche markets

What exactly does this author think CES is, if it's not a "weird and splendid panaply of overly specific gadgets, and raw components"? It's certainly not to showcase Apple products, and if he went there thinking Apple would have a huge presence or even a "shadow", then I guess he's never been to CES before.

I don't even like Apple..but to call them losers in an event they don't even generally participate in, is funny.

Of course hindsight is 20/20, but I think if RIM had held off on the PB until this year, and had demo'd it at CES with "2.0" (which should have just been standard for launch), and then released it a month after..it would have been a completely different "birth" of it. Looking back, there really wasn't much released in 2011 that was overly impressive tablet wise imo, and even if they had held on to it til this year, it would still be competitive in todays hardware landscape. They most likely could've saved themselves 1/2 billion dollars in losses, not to mention negative press.

[brucep1]

Rickroller,

I think the article suggests that Apple is a loser of CES because of the lack of imitation. If you remember, how many tablets were showcased last year? Like 50? My estimate, but this year there weren't nearly as many.

Instead of companies trying to directly to compete with Apple as a lot expected, these companies sort of did their own thing and tried to innovate on their own without Apple.

[bbqkid8]

Chalk one up for RIM. I am pleased with the positive press that came out for them at CES. The Playbook will undoubtedly be more complete, but one can't help to think that the timing of the release was a tad early. I personally don't think that there would have been anything wrong with waiting an extra 10 months for the Playbook. On the flipside, I can't imagine not using my Playbook for the last 10 months I've had it.

[Rickroller]

Originally Posted by brucep1

Rickroller,

I think the article suggests that Apple is a loser of CES because of the lack of imitation. If you remember, how many tablets were showcased last year? Like 50? My estimate, but this year there weren't nearly as many.

Instead of companies trying to directly to compete with Apple as a lot expected, these companies sort of did their own thing and tried to innovate on their own without Apple.

Good point! Perhaps that was what he was referring to the Apple "shadow".

[scalemaster34]

Originally Posted by brucep1

Rickroller,

I think the article suggests that Apple is a loser of CES because of the lack of imitation. If you remember, how many tablets were showcased last year? Like 50? My estimate, but this year there weren't nearly as many.

Instead of companies trying to directly to compete with Apple as a lot expected, these companies sort of did their own thing and tried to innovate on their own without Apple.

But that is a stretch to say that Apple is the looser... I think manufactures have realized that Apple is just to hard to beat in the tablet category. The only one that has been successfully is a tablet that is much cheaper, but it still offers the user a complete experience by providing an ecosystem that will "feed" them content. The tablet market isn't just about the HARDWARE and the OS! I think that as RIM's offerings mature that the PlayBook line has a chance of being a good product for RIM.

But for Apple there is Big difference between being a loser and scaring all the competition away...

[louzer]

As far as the April launch of the Playbook os concerned, let's not forget that April was a delay from the originally announced date which would have been late 2010. The April release was a scurry to get something on the shelves before the launch of the iPad2. It was a risk that, in hindsight, didn't really matter. Fact is that Playbook OS 2.0 features makes the Playbook an even better device than it is. It is now getting favorable reviews. The concept of the iPad took a while to catch on. And so will the Playbook. Should it have launched last April? Probably not. Am I glad that I've had it to use since last April? Absolutely.

[CrackberryBrandon]

Apple doesn't really even participate in this event how are they a loser lol.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II

[JD914]

apple never participates at CES because they don't have to. Now RIM on the other hand at CES introduces a software update to a year old playbook and another curve device that looks exactly like its predecessors? How does RIM win over apple?

BTW Apple stock is at $419 and RIM is at a measly $16. Apple is doing just fine and losing to no one especially RIM.

[anthogag]

Great article. This reviewer would recommend the OS2 pb over the other tablets

Apple's arms-length approach with its competitors will get old...soon

[sosumi11]

Originally Posted by louzer

The concept of the iPad took a while to catch on.

True. Everyone laughed when the iPad was announced. But once it shipped, the laughs stopped.

Apple sold 3,270,000 iPads in the first quarter the iPad went to market.

[dandbj13]

Originally Posted by brucep1

I think the article suggests that Apple is a loser of CES because of the lack of imitation. If you remember, how many tablets were showcased last year? Like 50? My estimate, but this year there weren't nearly as many.

Instead of companies trying to directly to compete with Apple as a lot expected, these companies sort of did their own thing and tried to innovate on their own without Apple.

If that's what the writer meant, I don't know which CES he covered. The one I read about had TV makers openly trying to compete with the rumor of an Apple branded television. Computer makers were putting Windows on Macbook Airs, and calling them Ultra Books. Even iCloud was reintroduced by Acer who went as far as to KIRF a recognizable slide used when Apple introduced it a few months ago. I can point to all that without ever mentioning the latest crop of iPad killers. Apple was all over CES.

[Blacklac]

Originally Posted by dandbj13

If that's what the writer meant, I don't know which CES he covered. The one I read about had TV makers openly trying to compete with the rumor of an Apple branded television. Computer makers were putting Windows on Macbook Airs, and calling them Ultra Books. Even iCloud was reintroduced by Acer who went as far as to KIRF a recognizable slide used when Apple introduced it a few months ago. I can point to all that without ever mentioning the latest crop of iPad killers. Apple was all over CES.

Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Sony, Sharp, etc are trying to copy a "product" that doesn't exist? How so? I can kind of see the other claims, maybe, but not that one.