No-show Apple still dominates CES

By Kim Tong-hyung

LAS VEGAS ― The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has packed up for another year, leaving behind the intensity created by the thousands of new technologies that jostled for attention.

Interestingly, however, the talk at the technology fair seemed to be dominated by its two most notable no-shows ― Apple and Google.

The defining products of this year’s CES was the mobile computing devices like smartphones and touch-screen tablets, unlike the events of previous years that were stomped by black-and-silver armies of flat-screen televisions.

It seemed as if every major electronics maker brought their own version of the iPad to the Las Vegas Convention Center. And these were the same companies that were showing off upgraded lineups of their handsets powered by Google’s Android mobile platform, the industry’s best bet to challenge Apple’s supremacy in consumer smartphones.

There were a number of products that left the hoards of writers, editors and tech geeks impressed. LG Electronics and Motorola in particular garnered rapt attention for flexing tablets that run on the latest version of Android, dubbed as Honeycomb, which was tailored for touch-screen computers, and dual-core smartphones they claimed are the fastest in the world.

It could also be said that the gadgets represent the obsession by companies to duplicate the strengths of Apple. And although a growing number of handset vendors, including Samsung Electronics, Nokia and Research in Motion (RIM), as well as traditional software makers like Microsoft, are committed to developing their own operating systems for mobile devices, Android clearly was the lone mobile platform that mattered at the CES.

Of course, Apple doesn’t want anything to do with the CES when the cost is compromising its precious mystique and aura. And Google wasn’t running a booth in Las Vegas either, although with the CES turning into a rally against its fruity rival, it probably didn’t’ need one.

The two technology giants are likely to combine for even a greater presence at next year’s CES, as they extend their competition to Internet-connected televisions.

Samsung, which has sold nearly 12 million of its flagship Android devices, the Galaxy S smartphone and Galaxy Tab tablet, claims itself as the dominant Android vendor and has to be delighted of all the talks about ``Samdroid,’’ compared to Microsoft and Intel’s ``Wintel’’ personal computer (PC) partnership.

Samsung officials are coy when asked about their plans for Bada, a mobile operating system the company launched in 2009, and it seems extremely unlikely that Bada handsets will account for a significant part of Samsung’s smartphone lineup anytime soon.

Virtually, all of Samsung’s trophy mobile devices at the CES ― including a fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) smartphone and a LTE version of the Galaxy Tab ― ran on Android. So did the 4G smartphones of other companies like Motorola’s Atrix, HTC’s Thunderbolt and LG’s Revolution.

``We are one of the few companies that offer mobile devices for all of the viable mobile operating systems that are opened to be licensed by vendors. Bada definitely has a part in our future, and we are encouraged by the reception we are getting in the limited number of markets it had reached, but for now, Android is clearly the go-to platform,’’ said a Samsung official.

Not that the high-profile Android devices at the CES were underwhelming. Particularly impressive was Motorola’s Atrix, which seemed to be a popular choice as the gadget of the show. The dual-core device can take full advantage of its added processing power by plugging into a monitor or laptop shell to become a desktop computer, allowing users to access the thousands of Android applications on a bigger screen with a keyboard and mouse.

And the early verdict on the still-unfinished Honeycomb, the version of Android customized for tablets, seem to be positive, with Motorola’s Xoom tablet impressing CES visitors for its customization features for Web pages and home screens, advanced Chrome Web browser and video chat functions that take advantage of its front-and-back dual cameras.