What’s Going On in Consumer Electronics?

Ideas I heard at a recent Beijing Conference

Consumer Electronics Industry is Disaggregating
(comments from Cherukuri of Sarnoff Labs)

20 years ago consumer electronics companies were vertically integrated; they probably needed to be to succeed. The one’s who are still vertically integrated ( e.g. Sony) are seeing a lot of pain.
R&D has gone long ago; know-how is acquired by acquiring entrepreneurial start-ups…all other R&D is a show for investors.
Successful companies control the design but do not design themselves; manufacturing goes to the likes of Flextronics;distribution to Walmart…what is left is Brand and Marketing.
Innovation is driven through software and built by fabless foundaries.
The box business is changing.

What are the strategic products driving growth?
- Games consoles with high-end graphic displays
- 3G wireless handsets with multimedia functionality
- Hi definition TV- display technologies
- Digital photography- 10 megapixels, hardcopy
- Wireless connectivity protocols
- Hi density storage
- Web portals with Search capabilities