Consumer Electronics Show which is one of the biggest technology event in Las Vegas every year is held online this year. I joined this event last year as an intern and inspected 4,400 companies for three days. The number of exhibitors this year is almost double that of last year, and companies in various fields such as AI, robotics, smart home, IoT and health care have shown innovate series and products, including countermeasures against the corona virus and technology for the elderly.
This year, I didn’t participate, but I was curious about “what is the current technology trends going on in the world right now?”, “which companies are attracting attention”, and “what position of Japan in the world in terms of technology?”. So, I looked into CES 2021 in my own way. Therefore, I would like to report on CES from my own perspective, comparing the situation with last year’s.
At first, I would like to introduce about CES history. in Japan. In the early 2000s, Japan was praised as the world’s top, and was central figure in CES. Japanese companies such as Panasonic, Sony and Sharp were attracting attention in the technology industry.However, there was a turning point in 2007. Streaming services became a trends in the world, then Amazon ,Google ,and Facebook gained power from America. After that, Japan tried to make a comeback by using the Internet and 3D functions for the entertainment industry, but it was not as strong as Samsung in Korea. From that time, the “winter era” of Japanese companies came. From 2010, car companies participated into CES. As a new challenge, Yamato Transport had developed flying cars and Sony has developed EV cars. However, in recent years, 5G and IoT have become trends, and Amazon and Google have occupied them.
Based on my research I have personally seen the “Japan’s winter era”.I saw this when I had the opportunity to visit the booth last year, there were not a lot of people in the booth for Japanese companies, and the size of the venue was small compared to other countries, so I felt exactly like “Japan’s winter era”.
I guessed that last year’s trends were “mobility” and “automobile”. From small Japanese semiconductor trading company to large companies ranging from SONY to Amazon, they all exhibited multifunctional cars. Toyota Motor Companies was exhibiting a city called “Smart City”, and I felt the transition of the automobile industry with the realization that Toyota is no longer the world’s top in the automobile industry. I felt that the difficulty of serving in the automobile industry without really good functions.
However, “the corona virus” and “pandemic” were really big news around the world and the state of affairs really changed this year. Looking at each company’s products, I thought the trends were touchless, wellness, and healthcare. Due to the change in trends, Japan was called the “Winter Era” at CES until last year, but I felt that there are many products that have opportunities in Japan this year. I would like to take up 2 Japanese companies that I am interested in and write down my own thoughts.
The first one is TOTO. TOTO has announced that it will penetrate TOUCH-LESS, ELECTRIC TOILET SEAT, and CLEAN SYNERGY, which has been working on for a long time, to the world amid the rising awareness of hygiene and cleanliness due to the spread of the corona virus.
In the first announcement of Welles’s Toilet’s initiative, they announced the basic concept of monitoring various health indicators just by using the toilet as usual and delivering comments to smartphone apps. TOTO’s goal is to just sit down and relieve yourself and it scans your body’s condition and gives you back health advice. Since the toilet seat and the skin come into contact with each other, various health data can be obtained from the excrement itself.
The second one is SONY. Because of the pandemic, we spend many hours at home and we are desiring “entertainment” for our daily lives. In Japan, “Atumare Doubutuno Mori ” and “KImetunoyaiba” become the trends. In response to the demand of these people, SONY proposed “entertainment excitement and value creation for people.”
360 Reality Audio, using stereophonic technology is a video content delivery service by artists that combines stereophonic music and video. Also, it will live stream this year. In this service, you can experience the realism as if you were in the same space. I think quite a few artists tried to broadcast live this year. I have also participated in the live, but I felt that the artists who can be seen on the small screen were even more out of reach. I think it is a service in high demand in Japan and Asia, where idol culture is all the range.
This is all about my thoughts is CES 2021 of Japanese companies. It is still difficult to translate Japanese into English, so there are some mistakes. And I could not translate all blogs into English. So, if you are interested please check Japanese one out. But, thank you for reading. At last, I think Japan is called “Winter Era” but “wellness” and “entertainment” could attract global demand and get out of “Winter Era”.
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