Consumer Electronics Companies Are Styling At CES

Consumer electronics firms have gone high fashion.

Philips Electronics PHG, Samsung and Sony SNE are among the big companies at this week's Consumer Electronics Show showing off products like HDTVs and mobile phones that emphasize style and elegance as differentiators.

CES is the world's largest consumer technology trade show. The annual four-day confab is expected to draw 140,000 attendees and 2,700 exhibitors.

Samsung unveiled an ultrathin LCD TV with a smooth finish and "touch of color" design. The TV features a translucent cabinet with a hint of amber coloring, with home theater speakers to match.

Samsung also has teamed with Italian luxury goods designer Giorgio Armani to develop mobile phones, flat-panel TVs and other products.

Philips, too, played up the fashion angle. It displayed flat-panel TVs with frames that glow with ambient colors matching the images on screen. It touted an invisible speaker system hidden in the frame.

Capping the haute couture theme, Philips hired models to wear bejeweled stereo earphones and glittery USB memory keys that double as pendant necklaces. Philips created its Active Crystal products with renowned crystal house Swarovski. Philips describes the products as a "fusion of fashion and function."

"We have brought a new sense of elegance, innovation and sophistication to consumer products not yet seen in consumer electronics," said Andrea Ragnetti, chief executive of Philips' consumer lifestyle unit.

Sony's cell phone venture Sony Ericsson demonstrated its Z555 handset, which it described as an affordable fashion phone. It has a reflective finish in "dusted rose" and "black diamond" colors. The clamshell phone responds to gestures, such as the wave of your hand, to mute a call or snooze the alarm.

LG Electronics designed a "bedroom TV" with a 32-inch LCD screen and side-loading DVD player. The company noted that living room furniture differs from bedroom furniture, so consumer electronics products should be different depending on the room, too.

LG also unveiled its LHT888 home theater system for decor-conscious users. The system's speakers were inspired by the elegant form of the champagne glass, it says.

Colors Getting Richer

For TV makers it's not all about looks. Makers continued to improve picture and audio quality. Common themes included TVs with faster screen refresh rates, richer colors and more full high-def resolution. Device makers also promoted wireless connections from set-top boxes and PCs to TVs to avoid the tangle of wires around televisions.

Sony heralded the introduction of the first organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV, which could one day threaten LCD TV's leadership in flat-panel sets. Sony's 11-inch XEX-1 OLED TV is available at Sony Style stores for about $2,500. The display is 0.1 inches thick and features a bright picture with low power consumption. The set has unmatched contrast and color and wide viewing angles.

Sony also displayed a prototype 27-inch OLED TV.

Samsung unveiled two prototype OLED TVs, a 14.1-inch model and a 31-inch model. It plans to begin commercial production of mid- to large-sized OLED TVs around 2010.

Toshiba Presses On

LCD TV leader Sharp says OLED is promising but not ready for prime time. OLED TVs won't replace LCDs soon for two reasons: their short life spans and the difficulty of mass producing large screen sizes, says Michael Troetti, president of Sharp's U.S. marketing arm. He said OLED TVs have a screen life of about three or four years. It needs to be at least 10 years before the technology takes off, he says.

Other product trends at CES include: the rise of high-def camcorders; mobile digital TV services for handhelds, in-car displays and notebook PCs; and devices for delivering content from PCs and the Internet to TVs.

One of the most talked-about stories at CES is the possible death knell for HD DVD. The high-def video disc format suffered a blow last week when movie studio Warner Bros. said it would support rival format Blu-ray Disc.

HD DVD backers, led by Toshiba, canceled a Sunday press event shortly after Warner's announcement on Friday.

At a press conference Sunday for new Toshiba products, Jodi Sally, vice president of digital audio-video marketing for Toshiba's U.S. unit, said the firm remains committed. "It's difficult for me to read all the pundits who declare that HD DVD is dead," she said. "Clearly the events of the last few days have led many of you to that conclusion, but we've been declared dead before."

But "the balance of power has tipped," said Allan Jason, vice president of consumer electronics marketing at the U.S. unit for LG, a Blu-ray supporter.

Blu-ray also has exclusive content from Walt Disney DIS, Sony, News Corp.'s NWS Twentieth Century Fox and MGM. HD DVD has exclusive content from Paramount, DreamWorks Animation DWA and NBC Universal.

"All of us at Sony are feeling 'blue' today and that's good," said Howard Stringer on Sunday. He's CEO of Sony, the main backer of Blu-ray. The decision by Warner Bros. will accelerate the adoption of Blu-ray, Stringer says.

Blu-ray Disc players sold "exceptionally well" over the holidays, despite lower prices for HD DVD, says Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics.

For 2007, Blu-ray movies outsold HD DVD movies two-to-one, says Randy Waynick, senior vice president in Sony Electronics' home products unit.