Parsing the hype coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a little like playing Battleship. Over the course of four days, CES attendees navigate a noisy grid of booths stocked full of the year’s newest tech. Some of the products turn out to be hits, while many, many more are quickly forgotten as over-hyped misses. Here’s a look back at some of our favorite product debuts — and many recent bombs — from CES’s 45-year history.
The year: 1970
The product: Commercial VCR
The result: Hit
Consumers got their first real taste of the “home theater” concept with the video cassette recorder (VCR). But getting the VCR from its modest CES reveal to market ubiquity took a decade of legal fighting and format warring (Hello VHS, what’s up, Betamax?). According to Nielsen’s research arm, VCR ownership (79 percent) wasn’t officially surpassed by DVD players (81 percent) until 2006.
The year: 1981
The product: Camcorder
The result: Hit
Miniaturized video cameras and recorders (i.e., camcorders) made their debut. Like much of the whiz-bang tech from the era, the camcorder’s road from exhibition store shelves was marred by a format war. (VHS vs. Betamax, again.)
The year: 1985
The product: Nintendo Entertainment System
The result: Hit
After a successful two-year stint in Japan, the Nintendo Entertainment System wowed CES-goers with its 8-bit gaming. The spectacle did more than enthrall a generation of bored school kids, it also revived the U.S. video game market from its apocalyptic outlook post-Atari fallout.
The year: 1996
The product: DVD
The result: Hit
The common movie disc format made its commercial debut to consumers. With the eventual adoption of Blu-ray the format is currently down, but surprisingly not out: Industry analysts at the Digital Entertainment Group say DVD sales and rentals hit $14 billion in 2010, the last full year reported.
The year: 1996
The product: Apple Pippin
The result: Miss
Apple’s foray into the game console market was a gnarly one: The Pippin, a joint venture with toy maker Bandai, underwhelmed CES crowds. The hefty price ($600) combined with merciless competition from Sega and Sony killed the Pippin shortly after its debut. Bandai reportedly manufactured less than 100,000 of the devices before it was discontinued in 1998.
The year: 1999
The product: DVR
The result: Hit
In 1999, both TiVo and ReplayTV offered sneaky peeks at their new living room-ready digital video recorders. The hook for CES-goers was simple: idiot-simple digital television recording without the hassle of tapes or commercials. TiVo is alive and kicking today, with numerous pop-culture odes (and unit sales) under its belt. Meanwhile, ReplayTV sold the majority of its assets to DirecTV in 2007.
The year: 2001
The product: Xbox
The result: Hit
The following scene actually happened: Pro-wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bill Gates introduced the first Xbox during the latter’s kickoff keynote. Microsoft’s first game console went on to sell over 25 million units in its six-year life and put the multi-billion dollar Halo franchise on the map.
The year: 2005
The product: Gizmondo
The result: Miss
Tiger Telematic and its ridiculously hyped handheld game console, a.k.a. the Gizmondo, promised to shake up the market with, at the time, revolutionary features: email, music, movies, GPS, and even Bluetooth. But the company only moved 25,000 units, proved insolvent and folded after one of its executives became embroiled with organized crime.
The year: 2007
The product: Windows Vista
The result: Miss
An excited Gates threw the tarp off Windows Vista. The announcement went off without a hitch, but reviewers and consumers alike malign the repeatedly delayed operating system when it’s released. A little over a year later, an embattled Steve Ballmer begrudgingly admitted at a speaking event that Vista was still “a work in progress.”
The year: 2008
The product: HD DVD
The result: Miss
The bitter format war between HD-DVD (Toshiba) and Blu-ray (Sony) came to a head at CES ’08. Citing the DVD’s decline and recession fears, HD DVD holdout Warner Bros. finally defected to Blu-ray just days before the show. Retailers like Best Buy declared their Blu-ray allegiance almost immediately while Toshiba quietly conceded and canceled its HD DVD press events. Meanwhile, countless booths around the show floor were awkwardly packed with suddenly obsolete HD DVD players.
The year: 2009
The product: webOS, Palm Pre
The result: Miss
Left for dead Palm came out swinging like a brain-damaged prizefighter with its Pre smartphone and its new webOS operating system. Overall polish, speed, and user-friendliness helped the Pre build an iPhone-killing mystique that attracts a lot of industry attention. Sales, however, told a different story: Sales figures of the Sprint-only launch were hinted at being in the hundreds of thousands (as opposed to the iPhone’s millions), and analysts soon declared the device a dud.
The Year: 2010
The product: 3-D
The result: Miss
The success of “Avatar” and the market’s continued HDTV revolution brought all things 3-D to the forefront for CES 2010. Televisions, game consoles and even Blu-ray players and set-top boxes were flaunted for their 3-D capabilities. The event proved to be a clusterfrak of 3-D formats, too: active shutter, passive polarized and even exotic glasses-free 3-D products all vied for headline space.
The year: 1970
The product: Commercial VCR
The result: Hit
Consumers got their first real taste of the “home theater” concept with the video cassette recorder (VCR). But getting the VCR from its modest CES reveal to market ubiquity took a decade of legal fighting and format warring (Hello VHS, what’s up, Betamax?). According to Nielsen’s research arm, VCR ownership (79 percent) wasn’t officially surpassed by DVD players (81 percent) until 2006.
The year: 1981
The product: Camcorder
The result: Hit
Miniaturized video cameras and recorders (i.e., camcorders) made their debut. Like much of the whiz-bang tech from the era, the camcorder’s road from exhibition store shelves was marred by a format war. (VHS vs. Betamax, again.)
The year: 1985
The product: Nintendo Entertainment System
The result: Hit
After a successful two-year stint in Japan, the Nintendo Entertainment System wowed CES-goers with its 8-bit gaming. The spectacle did more than enthrall a generation of bored school kids, it also revived the U.S. video game market from its apocalyptic outlook post-Atari fallout.
The year: 1996
The product: DVD
The result: Hit
The common movie disc format made its commercial debut to consumers. With the eventual adoption of Blu-ray the format is currently down, but surprisingly not out: Industry analysts at the Digital Entertainment Group say DVD sales and rentals hit $14 billion in 2010, the last full year reported.
The year: 1996
The product: Apple Pippin
The result: Miss
Apple’s foray into the game console market was a gnarly one: The Pippin, a joint venture with toy maker Bandai, underwhelmed CES crowds. The hefty price ($600) combined with merciless competition from Sega and Sony killed the Pippin shortly after its debut. Bandai reportedly manufactured less than 100,000 of the devices before it was discontinued in 1998.
The year: 1999
The product: DVR
The result: Hit
In 1999, both TiVo and ReplayTV offered sneaky peeks at their new living room-ready digital video recorders. The hook for CES-goers was simple: idiot-simple digital television recording without the hassle of tapes or commercials. TiVo is alive and kicking today, with numerous pop-culture odes (and unit sales) under its belt. Meanwhile, ReplayTV sold the majority of its assets to DirecTV in 2007.
The year: 2001
The product: Xbox
The result: Hit
The following scene actually happened: Pro-wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bill Gates introduced the first Xbox during the latter’s kickoff keynote. Microsoft’s first game console went on to sell over 25 million units in its six-year life and put the multi-billion dollar Halo franchise on the map.
The year: 2005
The product: Gizmondo
The result: Miss
Tiger Telematic and its ridiculously hyped handheld game console, a.k.a. the Gizmondo, promised to shake up the market with, at the time, revolutionary features: email, music, movies, GPS, and even Bluetooth. But the company only moved 25,000 units, proved insolvent and folded after one of its executives became embroiled with organized crime.
The year: 2007
The product: Windows Vista
The result: Miss
An excited Gates threw the tarp off Windows Vista. The announcement went off without a hitch, but reviewers and consumers alike malign the repeatedly delayed operating system when it’s released. A little over a year later, an embattled Steve Ballmer begrudgingly admitted at a speaking event that Vista was still “a work in progress.”
The year: 2008
The product: HD DVD
The result: Miss
The bitter format war between HD-DVD (Toshiba) and Blu-ray (Sony) came to a head at CES ’08. Citing the DVD’s decline and recession fears, HD DVD holdout Warner Bros. finally defected to Blu-ray just days before the show. Retailers like Best Buy declared their Blu-ray allegiance almost immediately while Toshiba quietly conceded and canceled its HD DVD press events. Meanwhile, countless booths around the show floor were awkwardly packed with suddenly obsolete HD DVD players.
The year: 2009
The product: webOS, Palm Pre
The result: Miss
Left for dead Palm came out swinging like a brain-damaged prizefighter with its Pre smartphone and its new webOS operating system. Overall polish, speed, and user-friendliness helped the Pre build an iPhone-killing mystique that attracts a lot of industry attention. Sales, however, told a different story: Sales figures of the Sprint-only launch were hinted at being in the hundreds of thousands (as opposed to the iPhone’s millions), and analysts soon declared the device a dud.
The Year: 2010
The product: 3-D
The result: Miss
The success of “Avatar” and the market’s continued HDTV revolution brought all things 3-D to the forefront for CES 2010. Televisions, game consoles and even Blu-ray players and set-top boxes were flaunted for their 3-D capabilities. The event proved to be a clusterfrak of 3-D formats, too: active shutter, passive polarized and even exotic glasses-free 3-D products all vied for headline space.