Viva Las Vegas?

Microsoft and Windows CE Manufacturers strut their stuff at COMDEX and CES

By Rich Hall
Managing Editor, Handheld PC Magazine

One of the ways we get Windows CE information is to go to computer shows. Another is to surf the Internet. Both have one thing in common - the amount of distracting information they provide.

I went to two shows recently. The first was COMDEX, in late November. The second was the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which finished on January 10 -- yesterday! A lot of the information in this issue is from those two shows. What I thought I'd do in this article is give you a little feel for what it's like to go to one of these shows.

COMDEX was packed! Over 200,000 in attendance, packed shoulder to shoulder. I had to weave and side step to get anywhere.

I managed to get to the Microsoft Pavilion and to many of the H/PC manufacturer's booths. They where busy showing off the new Windows CE 2.0 handheld PCs. Casio, Compaq, LG Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, NEC and Philips were all showing new Windows CE 2.0 handhelds, and two new players entered the market: Ericsson and Sharp. (A review of the HP 620LX can be found on page 27 of this issue.)

The Microsoft Partners Pavilion had a rather large section reserved for companies showing Windows CE products. Many independent software vendors were releasing new versions of their Windows CE software. This section was packed, shoulder to shoulder, for the entire show. I kept putting off going to this section until the crowds thinned out, but they never did. The new products section of our January/February issues describes most of the products I saw.

COMDEX was sensory overload to the max. It gets bigger each year, with more exhibitors competing for your attention. They will try almost anything to get your attention. The problem is that with everybody playing loud music, you can't hear yourself think.

Some of it was entertaining. The Philips Pavilion had the Velo Dancers, a high-energy group of singers and dancers singing blues songs with lyrics like:

I showed her my Velo Handheld PC

When I'm on the road it travels with me.

Iomega had a really intense show where hard looking women in extremely short skirts sang about how impressed they were with Zip drives and mass storage. I thought it was a bit much, but it was always crowded. By the way, Iomega is coming out with the "Click," a very small storage device that will connect to the H/PC and provide up to 40 MB of file storage on a removable disk about the size of a 50 cent piece.

I always ask the IBM guys if they are going to do anything with Windows CE, and they always get testy. They were showing a concept car with dashboard computer (NOT an Auto PC).

At lunch time on Wednesday I stopped by Rafi's Glatt Kosher Kitchen (in the Convention Center) and had a great sandwich.

Back out on the floor, I walked by a booth where an energetic (and annoying) young person stepped out and placed an "I love such-and-such a product" sticker on my lapel. I didn't love this product (I'd never even heard of it) and as I walked away, I ripped it off and threw it in a trashcan. Later, when using the restroom, I saw three of these stickers plastered on the wall above one of the urinals -- and you probably know what I'm going to associate this product with for a long, long time.

Latter that day I talked with Eddy, manager of the motel I stayed at in Las Vegas during the show. I asked him if he had ever been to COMDEX.

"Yea, I went once," he said. "Nothing but computers, and I'm not into computers." Eddy did like the magicians convention that came every February. It probably wasn't as crowded.

Marching through CES

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the big consumer electronics event of the year. Microsoft chose CES to roll out its two new Windows CE platforms, Palm PC and Auto PC. These two events dominated the show. I describe these new platforms more completely on pages 10 and 20.

They don't scream at you as much at CES, and there are only about 100,000 in attendance, so it's an easier experience. Like COMDEX, CES was awash with stuff not directly related to Windows CE. I saw cables, accessories, boom boxes, audiophile systems, and chessboards with built-in computers. I saw handheld televisions in the $60-70 range, a headset game controller (you looked at the bad guy and shot him). I saw plug in solar panels to power small and large devices. A number of companies offered unlimited Internet access for under $15 a month. A division of Panasonic was showing off ergonomic chairs that gave you wonderful massages. (This booth was extremely popular in the late afternoon.)

There were cordless phones, cellular phones, satellite phones, tape players, DVD disks, watches and even computerized coffee makers. And over in the Sands Convention Center the audiophile section had every conceivable combination of woofers, tweeters and amplifiers you could imagine. The manufacturers loved to display their products in high-end customized cars that only Bill Gates could afford. Fittingly, a portion of the bottom floor of the Sands Convention Center was reserved for the "Adult Entertainment" portion of the consumer electronics industry.

The main section of the Las Vegas Convention Center housed all the Windows CE stuff. The majority of Microsoft's pavilion was devoted to the Palm PC and Auto PC. Microsoft demonstrated the new devices to all comers. The Microsoft Partners Pavilion had small kiosks where manufacturers and independent software vendors showed off their wares. The pavilion was crowded both days I was there.

Scattered around the rest of the convention floor were a few of the major computer manufacturers. The Philips area was as large as the Microsoft Pavilion, and adjacent to it. Philips was showing many of its consumer products, and devoting a lot of its floor space to the Velo H/PC and Nino Palm PC.

Casio was not only showing their new Palm PC, they were showing their new "IR Web Watch." It was a hefty wristwatch that not only told time, but reminded you of appointments, and let you look up contact information and memos. The IR Web Watch had an infrared port and you could use proprietary software on your desktop PC (with IR port), handheld PC or Palm PC to send data to the watch. The IR Web Watch will be priced around $200-$250 and be available towards the end of 1998. Casio was also showing an H/PC with a color display. I was told that it was "ready to o" but that Casio was watching sales of the Hewlett-Packard 620LX and the Sharp Mobilon 700C (both with color displays). The implication was that if sales of those two color screen devices were good, Casio would introduce a similar product.

I also visited the Everex and Uniden booths to see their Palm PCs. Everex was displaying their "Freestyle" Palm PC in different colors. Uniden wasn't displaying a Palm PC and told me it was still in development.

I visited a number of companies developing software, hardware accessories and services for the Palm PC and Auto PC. Check out the product listings on pages 15 and 22 for more on that. I finally got out of CES on Saturday afternoon. It was a tiring trip, but fruitful in new Windows CE knowledge.

I flew out on a certain airline whose name I won't mention. For dinner they served a nice little chicken sandwich about the size of a Hostess Twinky. I had to change planes in Minneapolis. My connecting flight was departing in 20 minutes from gate 87 -- only a mile-and-a-half away (or so it seemed). The plane was one of those cute little turboprops with a bathroom the size of a broom closet. Pilot Bob got on the horn half way through the flight and proceeded to give us the technical specifications of the aircraft. Two women in the row behind me had had a little too much to drink and were cracking up with every new detail. Pilot Bob made a point of telling us that the company was replacing its turboprop aircraft as fast as it could -- I felt reassured.

I got into Des Moines, drove home, and got into bed at 2:30 in the morning. It was very good to be home.