No longer 'catching up'
Updated: 2015-01-09 12:40
By Chang Jun and Lian Zi (China Daily USA)
A curved TV produced by Chinese electronic manufacturer Haier is displayed at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Photos by Eric Jou / chinadaily.com.cn
The world's biggest gadget show ended on Friday in Las Vegas. For Chinese companies, the international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) meant moving from being adapters and modifiers to innovators, report CHANG JUN and LIAN ZI from Las Vegas.
They represented one-fourth of the 3,600 exhibitors displaying the coolest gadgets, gizmos and doodads, and this year Chinese presenters at the international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) showed their own "cool".
Occupying some of the 2.2 million square feet of exhibition space in Las Vegas, the companies showcased innovative rather than just new adaptations and modifications.
Chinese companies are converting from the "fast followers" (of Western technology and products), to showing more and more innovation and leadership, Jerry Yang, co-founder and former CEO of search engine giant Yahoo, told China Daily.
"I no longer see it as 'catching up' - rather, Chinese entrepreneurs focus on the massive domestic Chinese market and are innovating accordingly," said Yang.
It is more of a parallel innovation track, whereby Chinese companies can take advantage of a large merchant base, growth in third- and fourth-tier cities, mobile and commerce, and a continued manufacturing advantage, he said.
In addition to Lenovo and Alibaba, companies such as Tencent Holdings Ltd and Xiaomi Corp are examples of continued innovation. Many of these companies, such as Baidu Inc, are also setting up R&D centers in the US, said Yang.
Increasing innovation
Since 2001, Chinese companies have been taking part in the show and demonstrating a significant increase in the pace of innovations.
This year, all major Chinese high-tech brands, including Hisense, Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, TCL and Alibaba, showcased innovative ideas in their products.
Many of the companies are closely following international trends and allocating resources to produce the next billion-dollar market, be it in audio, automotive electronics, gaming, video and 4K ultra High Definition, wireless services, digital imaging and photography, and the Internet of Things (IoT), a topic and phrase heard frequently at the show throughout this week.
Some of the deep-pocketed Chinese companies, TCL and Lenovo, also used the show that ended Friday to announce the acquisition of a Western brand and the revitalization of an otherwise diminishing US brand.
Lenovo Group Ltd showcased more than 20 new products, including phones, tablets, laptops, convertibles and a wristband. Most were being shown outside China for the first time.
Tech giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, exhibited more than 100 products at the show.
Among its new products, TCL Multimedia, based in Huizhou, Guangdong province, unveiled a 110-inch ultra high-definition television with a curved screen, the largest such model in the world.
ZTE unveiled its latest smart projectors. ZTE said the products reflect its focus on creating new consumer experiences for connecting to the mobile Internet.
Cheng Lixin, chairman and CEO of ZTE USA, said that as more consumers use connected devices, device makers and carriers are under pressure to create a seamless and more personalized experience.
"We are making significant improvements in user experiences through our consumer experience unit, and consumer interests will be at the heart of everything we imagine, build and deliver in 2015," Cheng said.
This year, CES designated large exhibition space to vendors offering digital products in sports, fitness and health and wellness.
Shawn Dubravac, chief economist for the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), said he thought there will be fast growth in such products because consumers want to be empowered participants in their healthcare by measuring and monitoring their wellness on a continuous basis.
Healthcare wearables
Krista Silano, with the CEA, said the concept of tracking one's health first appeared almost four years ago in products at CES, but new products can do much more. Sensors, wearables and mobile technologies, re-incorporated into sports and fitness equipment and clothes provide users real-time information that enables them to better achieve their goals.
Gerard Lefebvre, publisher of IFA International in France, said he was impressed by the demonstrations presented by Chinese tech companies such as Hisense, TCL, ZTE and Lenovo. "Senior executives of these companies know their businesses so well. More importantly, they also know how to use universal language to tell their stories in front of a worldly audience," he told China Daily.
In addition to Lenovo and Alibaba, companies like Tencent, Xiaomi and Phantom, are all examples of continuing innovation and expanding their overseas markets. Many of these companies are also setting up R&D centers in the US for close collaboration between US and Chinese technology companies.
On the immersive entertainment industry, which is a popular topic at CES and a hot area for investment and research, leading industry players from China are competing with Western counterparts on innovation. On Monday, press day, Chinese companies such as TCL, Hisense and ZTE showcased their latest technologies and new products for what is expected to be a billion-dollar market. The CEA expects this industry to retain an annual growth rate of 15 percent, especially in the augmented and virtual reality areas, through 2018.
4K TV
The 4K ultra high-definition TV, for example, is driving the entire household entertainment industry and many of the consumer electronics enterprises worldwide are competing for more market shares. 4K is a device that displays high-definition content with a horizontal resolution around 4,000 pixels.
Dubravac, also the author of Digital Destiny: How the New Age of Data will Transform the Way We Work, Live and Communicate, said new technologies are converging to create a vivid, immersive entertainment environment.
"The 4K TV saw 800,000 units sell in 2013, and we expect 3 million units" to sell in 2014 in the US, said Dubravac,
TCL Multimedia announced a series of new products, including the world's largest 110-inch 4K Ultra HD Curved TV, a 55-inch 4K UHD Quantum Dot TV, as well as its new TCL TV+ strategy.
The TV strategy for 2015 centers on TCL TV+ that "combines the latest display and acoustic processing technology with incredible interactive features such as media sharing, smart remote control and the electronic program guide", according to E. Hao, CEO of TCL Multimedia.
For Hisense, another leading consumer electronics player based in Qingdao, Shandong province, CES is a platform to showcase its new VIDAA 100-inch Laser Cinema TV, a laser projector that can beam a 100-inch image from a distance of only 2 feet.
By integrating different technologies, the TV also is designed to provide high-end audio and video. "This product comes with an amazing price tag, which is significantly lower than comparable LCD TVS," said Hisense chief scientist Huang Weiping.
Huang also showed the audience its "Chill", a personal home-based beverage vending machine, which will dispense up to four different beverages in either bottles or cans, and will also serve as a mini refrigerator for snacks. It will be available at Costco after Jan 15.
Smartphone enterprise ZTE revealed its latest products, the second generation of Grand X Max+ and the portable smart projector Spro 2.
ZTE, based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said the products reflect its focus on creating new consumer experiences for connecting to the mobile Internet. ZTE USA, headquartered in Richardson, Texas, provides devices to every major US-based carrier, said its USA CEO Cheng Lixin.
The company is the fourth-largest supplier of mobile devices overall and second-largest supplier of prepaid devices with more than 20 million active users in the US market, he said.
Connected devices
"As more consumers are using connected devices in their lives, the bigger demand is on device makers and carriers to create seamless if not more personalized experiences," said Cheng Lixin, chairman and CEO of ZTE USA.
"We are making significant improvements in user experiences through our consumer experience unit, and consumer interests will be at the heart of everything we imagine, build and deliver in 2015," Cheng said.
The Grand X Max+ is a 4G LTE (CAT4) Android smartphone packed with high-end components. The phone will be available at Cricket for $199.99.
"The ZTE Grand X Max+ is the latest example of how we listen to our consumers and apply our expertise to bring them premium experiences at affordable prices," said Cheng.
Lenovo, the world's largest PC maker, unveiled the 13-inch LaVie Z notebook, significantly lighter than Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air.
It also introduced Anypen, which would allow users to use any metallic object, such as a pen or pencil, even the blunt end of a fork, as a stylus on their tablet and PC devices.
ORBBEC, the Shenzhen-based producer of 3-dimensioned sensors, showcased products that can be widely applied into interactive displays, smart TVs, gaming, SD scanning, smart home automation, smart conference room and IoT.
"Although we started our business relatively late compared to our US counterparts, we are catching up in terms of products quality and affordability," said Howard Huang, founder and CEO of ORBBEC, who spent 10 years working at MIT's research lab with renowned scientists.
Huang said he is confident that his R&D team in China houses the most innovative minds in the 3-D sensor field.
To penetrate the already fierce competition in the consumer electronics industry, two Chinese companies decided to unite with US companies. TCL bought the Palm brand and Lenovo said it will start selling Motorola smartphones in China by the end of March.
TCL said it will create a new Palm in California's Silicon Valley, leveraging the talent and partnerships of the area.
"Palm has always carried a lot of emotions," the press release said.
"That's why TCL has set the direction to rebuild the brand involving Palm's very own community, making it the largest scale crowd-sourced project ever seen in the industry."
A long-expected strategic move by TCL, the Palm acquisition will help TCL diversify and expand in other areas, such as high-end smartphones, said TCL's CEO George Guo. Currently, Apple and Samsung occupy most of the market share for smartphones.
TCL acquired the name from Hewlett-Packard, which bought Palm in 2010 with the grand vision of utilizing its WebOS mobile operating system across many products. HP ultimately mothballed its consumer mobile ambitions.
Lenovo Group, the world's largest PC maker, confirmed at CES that it will sell Motorola phones in China in the first quarter of 2015, following a Motorola market absence of more than two years.
The Moto X will be sold in February, with the Moto X Pro and Moto G to be sold later on. Lenovo purchased Motorola Mobility from Google Inc for $2.9 billion in October.
Contact the writers at junechang@chinadailyusa.com and zilian@chinadailyusa.com
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