KEY POINTS:
NEW YORK - The battle for control of living room entertainment is spilling out onto the streets as consumers increasingly demand that their music, television shows and photographs be portable.
As more people watch TV on laptop computers and carry entire music catalogs in their pockets, mobility will be a key theme when the US$140 billion global consumer electronics industry meets in Las Vegas this week to set the 2007 agenda.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), will feature everything from bigger and brighter high-definition TVs to tiny devices that shift video from the internet to your TV. There will be lamps that double as wireless audio speakers, as well as corporate-quality computer hard drives now aimed at consumers.
"Part of the reason our industry is growing so well is because technology is enabling the experience in any location to be better, more connected," said Sean Wargo, an analyst at the Consumer Electronics Association, which hosts CES. "An iPod is a portable device that provides sound in the living room but also hooks into a car or listens on the go."
The four-day show is the biggest annual US gathering of the industry, and will draw some 140,000 enthusiasts and retailers to a sprawling exhibition of gadgets that feed consumers' ever-growing library of personal programming.
Just as important are the deals expected to be announced by major TV networks and movie studios to give consumers access to more programming for the big screen at home or the little screens in their pockets.
While these ideas were introduced in previous years, analysts expect concrete products and deals next week.
"This is the year of the digital home, but not the flighty concept digital home," said NPD Group analyst Steve baker. "In the US, most people have broadband ... and there is an explosion of digital hi-definition television. The building blocks are in place and its time to fill it in."
Bill Gates to kick off show
CES, which has been the launching point for everything from DVDs and plasma TV to the Xbox game console, will kick off with a speech by Microsoft Chief Executive Bill Gates, who is expected to discuss the growing importance of consumer electronics to the software giant.
He is sure to touch on Microsoft's Zune digital music player and Xbox 360, analysts say, as well as the market for Vista, Microsoft's new computer operating system that will be released this year. Analysts suggest that Vista will boost demand for more powerful PCs to help manage media libraries.
"We look with a very strong focus toward entertainment and the personalization aspect," said Jan-Luc Blakborn, director of digital entertainment for Hewlett-Packard, pointing to new categories of PCs that HP is creating, such as a PC with an easy-to-use touch-screen interface.
Other chief executives scheduled to address the show are Motorola's Ed Zander, Walt Disney's Robert Iger, Nokia's Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Dell's Michael Dell, and CBS Corp.'s Les Moonves.
Analysts expect each to discuss how media can be shared between devices over myriad systems, such as wireless phones and internet downloads.
"We are seeing the lines blurring," CEA's Wargo said. "Technology is enabling that content to be viewed from any device. Where it resides is becoming less and less important."
Some industry news has already been released, particularly surrounding the so-called "format war" between backers of rival next-generation DVD systems HD DVD and Blu-ray. Time Warner will unveil at CES a new high-definition DVD that plays both formats and could end the battle.
South Korea's LG Electronics will also launch a DVD player that supports both Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Many at CES will also listen for news from hundreds of miles away at Macworld, where Apple Computer is expected to unveil a phone or TV applications to complement its market-dominating iPod music player.
- REUTERS
