CES 2010: What did we learn this week?

Winners and losers

To wrap up, who emerged from CES most victorious this week? Google did earn some points for being behind a platform that's a topic of conversation along with Palm. Verizon won points for saving potential Palm customers from an eternity spent with a carrier they don't trust yet. And despite some corny moments that weren't very well rehearsed, Intel actually did have the most intriguing keynote overall, showing practical and feasible new classes of devices way, way outside the traditional realm of the PC.

Motorola was a winner, at a time when it really needed to win big. Droid put Motorola back in the game at the top of the heap, but Backflip demonstrated that it's willing to also try new things in the midrange space to regain the public's trust. And if you hadn't heard of HTC prior to this week, you've heard of it now. It's being seen as a maker of premium quality phones in all price ranges, including the new, value-priced "Smart" series on the BREW platform.

The biggest winner overall was Qualcomm, now not only an "inside" player in platform technology but a brand that people will discuss alongside Intel and LG. Not only did Snapdragon steal folks' attention, but Qualcomm's practical display of color e-readers gave folks reason to hope that dual-screens wouldn't be the only way that e-reader users could acquire functionality, versatility, and legibility in a single device. Those test units bore Qualcomm's name in bright and bold letters for a reason; they're planting the brand in our minds.

Losing ground this week: AMD, for not having an adequate answer in the netbook range, and ceding ground to Qualcomm. Sure, Qualcomm may be using AMD's old factory, but that's no direct benefit to it. AMD's presence at CES was represented primarily by ATI, with its next-generation graphics cards; but gamer-class PCs are losing ground among CES attendees. They're for enthusiasts, a market whose members spend big enough, though their numbers are dwindling.

And you already know who lost the most ground at CES -- that's a drum we've beaten until it's dented and has holes. Microsoft's Wednesday keynote was all wrong. Here is a company that has emerged victorious with the operating system that wipes clean the memory of Vista, failed largely due to marketing mistakes more than engineering. And yet its parade of triumph for Windows 7 consisted of showing it running (or not running, since some machines had lost power) on a variety of PC-derivative form factors that, when stuck on a desk, don't look all that intriguing. And in an era when portable, flexible, adaptable media is more important than ever...Microsoft touts CableCARD? And MediaRoom? Seriously?

Last year's CES was subdued in the message department and chaotic in the delivery department. This year was smoother, a little brighter, a bit more down to earth. But amid all that, the leaderboards are shifting, to some extent tremendously. Up until this week, Qualcomm featured most prominently in Betanews for its lawsuits. For the last several years, a new player has emerged as the talk of the town. And that's exactly the effect that a trade show is supposed to have.