CES - The Early Buzz

CES is certainly part of how 2006 is getting started in a big way in the world of IP. I'm not attending, and won't be covering it closely, but others sure are. The usual suspects will start populating their blogs later today and onward with on-the-spot commentary, and they'll all be great reads. I'd certainly urge you to follow them if you want that type of coverage, especially Jeff Pulver, Andy Abramson and Alec Saunders.

That said, Andy's post today is a great read on the early buzz, and provides an insider's perspective from someone who is really on top of what's really important at the show. Am sure other similar dispatches will be coming from Andy, so stay tuned.

Simon Avery is the main tech writer at the Globe & Mail. He's attending the show, and his take on CES today is pretty good too - a more pedestrian read, and what you'd expect from the maintstream business press. He cited some stats on consumer expenditures, and one of them caught my eye. In 2006, U.S. consumers are forecast to spend $16 billion on wireless handsets, and $23 billion on digital televisions. Neither of these have a whole lot to do - at least yet - with VoIP, and it puts things in perspective for me. VoIP is cool, and will eventually be very big, but it's really a poor cousin right now compared to where people really like to spend their money today - mobility, TV, gaming, iTunes, etc.