The big theme at CES is integration and not convergence

Michael Gartenberg | January 08, 2007, 12:02 PM

There's a lot of action going on at CES and to sum up the big theme, it's not about convergence but rather integration. A few years ago, it was all about convergence, the merging of all functionality into a single device. This year, it's all about how to integrate the diversity of devices that consumers are using into a whole that allows for the information and content they want to flow seamlessly from device to device. Whether it's your iPod in your car, your Mac Mini to your TV or your PC to your TV.

This is the emergence of what we have called in the past contextual flow as we define it

Contextual flow is marked by the seamless transition from one digital context to another, regardless of location or type of device used or the nature of the content or information being accessed.

Which is not to say there aren't a few hurdles here. DRM restricts the flow of content seamlessly. Likewise, home networks are still a huge issue (but lots of stuff being shown at CES that can help potentially overcome some of this stuff). Good news is consumers is that even thought true integration isn't really here yet and won't likely be here in 2007, the devices are most certainly moving closer to each other and there's some real functionality that can be gained by mere mortals.