I just finished a series of CES previews by PC vendors, and I can easily say that with the products I saw, Lenovo is likely to win at CES this year. I can’t tell you why or what they’re announcing, but it got me thinking about why CES might be more important than I thought if Lenovo’s using it like that.
I’ve never been a fan of CES because it comes too early for back-to-school or the next holiday shopping season. In addition, it spoils the holidays for those who have to dress up to attend the event, and with a tri-monster underway, it could affect attendees for the worse. People in my age group (my wife would suggest I add the word “advanced”) should participate remotely, as I would because of the risk of serious illness.
But after watching Lenovo’s pitch for its announcement at CES next month, I realize that for those who truly innovate, CES has the potential to set the bar for the rest of the market and take an undisputed leadership position for 2023. Might be the perfect show for that.
Let’s talk about CES and market leadership this week, and we’ll close with our product of the week, a new two-card line of graphics cards by AMD that’s blowing everything else out of the water at the moment.
problems with innovation
We love to talk about innovation, but innovation refers to finding a problem that we cannot fix using existing approaches and technologies. After decades as an analyst, it seems to me that most innovation is more about trying to fix a problem than an existing tool that generally works better.
When innovation emerges, it is because it solves a problem that existing tools either cannot handle or does it in a better way than traditional tools. In other words, innovation for its own sake is stupid. However, when applied to an unsolved or poorly solved problem, innovation can be disastrous if people are convinced that it brings vastly better results.
resistance to change
This brings up the second problem with innovation: it requires high marketing, because with all the hype around innovation, we don’t like change.
We get comfortable with things and can get upset when faced with change. To some extent, it is related to age. The younger you are, the more likely you are to accept and even inspire change. The older you get, the more you cherish stability and tradition. But regardless of age and tolerance for innovation, if someone can’t show you why the innovative product is better in a compelling way, young people probably won’t buy it either.
risk factor
Finally, innovation is risky. When it comes to long-lasting products, you know a lot about what the market currently accepts because the existing product is selling. But when you innovate, you’re guessing what buyers want that they’re not getting, and the risk that you can be wrong increases astronomically.
This introduces risk because you can be wrong. Your company should be tolerant of risk-taking because, despite being written about the need to take risk, most companies reward risk-taking rather than risk-taking.
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For example, I once met with the CEO of Ford, who talked about changing Ford’s culture about risk-taking, but then pointed out that if someone took a risk with Ford’s pickup truck, the F-150, That was Ford’s mainstay, and got it wrong, they would be shot.
Obviously, he didn’t understand the risk-taking at all because the message he was conveying was that Ford really wasn’t willing to support it. The F-150 would stand as an example to others, even if whatever the CEO said, he was not on board with the idea.
In short, you either support risk-taking or you don’t. Granted, risks have to be justified, but if you focus on limiting risk-taking, you will kill innovation. (I should point out that the CEO I met was forced out of Ford several years ago.)
Setting the Bar for Tech Innovation
CES is arguably the place to take the biggest risks because it’s the first major technology show of the year. It set the bar for the year in technological innovation in some markets, including automotive. While we don’t think of it as an auto show, when it comes to technologies like in-car entertainment and autonomous driving, this is where you see those advancements firsthand. Even focused car shows are subject to CES.
Historically, tech vendors haven’t really geared up for their most innovative pushes in January, so it’s not until mid-year that we see the most interesting stuff. As mentioned, this year, I think Lenovo will overwhelm other vendors as much as it did with its Threadripper workstations and aggressive use of water cooling in the professional space. By showing it off at CES instead of later in the year, marketing (which is working impressively) should have the resources to do the heavy lifting.
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Used right, a company can put up a tough fight at CES and be the talk of the industry for next year if it rocks hard enough. Granted, it comes with risk because if the market doesn’t agree with where you innovated, you could dig a hole that will take time to dig out. I’m a big believer in swinging for the fences because if you don’t, you’ll never be able to hit that home run.
Lenovo has been moving steadily towards market leadership of late. The shots it’s taking are risky, but it’s shown it can execute, so keep your eyes on Lenovo. I think you will look at the company differently after the show.
wrapping up
I have a newfound respect for CES, and I think about how it could be even more powerful than it currently is. Being the first major tech show of the year, it sets the bar if the presenting vendors aggressively pursue innovative solutions to problems that have not only not been addressed but were not even known to customers that they had.
Done right, a vendor in a variety of markets, including automotive, appliances, personal technology, PCs, and, increasingly, robotics, can tear apart its competitors like Apple did a few decades ago with smartphones and rule the market. Was.
Lenovo is taking that shot this year, and keep an eye out for Lenovo when it gets off the floor at CES. I think it will surprise the market and show how other vendors can use the show to get ahead of their competitors. So just like that, I get to what CES should always have been: the one show to rule them all (Gollum says “hi”).
AMD RX 7900 XT/XTX graphics card
AMD woke up the gaming world with two graphics cards, the RX 7900 XT and 7900 XTX, that are priced well above their suggested retail price, which sadly has largely sold out and is going for a hefty premium. have been
They look great in a case and show how far AMD has come in the competitively priced GPU space.
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Graphics Card | Image credit: AMD
These are truly impressive graphics cards, enhanced by a software driver solution that makes management easy for both professional and amateur gamers alike.
gamers choice
I’ve been watching gaming forums where the dialogue about AMD (both CPU and GPU) has gone from viewing the company as a value player in the space to being the king of performance. I’m a little surprised on the CPU side, not because AMD’s Threadripper CPU isn’t awesome, but because gaming largely depends on GPU performance these days. But many gamers are making fun of their peers who are no longer running AMD CPUs, which shows how much AMD’s image has changed over time.
Utilizing a balance of absolute performance, plug-and-play installation ease, high color accuracy and advanced chiplet technology, these cards set a new bar for gamers, and gamers love them so much they bought out the existing supply Is. So, you might want to wait a little longer before buying one of these cards as prices are getting worse due to lack of supply.
Unlike some other more expensive competing parts, these do not require special connectors, fit most cases, and consume very little power, which helps us keep our rising energy costs down.
If you love gaming and want the best performance for the money at anywhere close to suggested retail, these new AMD cards are a tremendous deal and represent a potential new era for AMD as a power player in the GPU space. We do. At the same time, they were a wake-up call for Nvidia, which went in a very different direction.
In conclusion, like the market, I’m very impressed with the AMD RX 7900 XT and 7900 XTX cards, making them my products of the week.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.
