Product announcements in both phones and tablets (and even TVs) were overwhelmingly Android.
In a note entitled “Tablets everywhere at CES,” Bank of America/Merrill Lynch analyst Justin Post remarks that CES was certainly a big venue for new Google (GOOG) Android-powered products.
The Android camp has demonstrated this CES that it could present to the market attractive solutions (both hardware and software) that match if notsurpass the product experience offered by Apple, especially when the support of standard video formats (Divx) and Flash are considered.
CES tablet trends positive for Google
Google services are well positioned on new tablets at CES as many are using Android, a Chrome browser, feature a Google search capabilities and operate wellwith Google apps. After demoing several Microsoft 7 phones at CES that prominently featured Bing, we think there are advantages of having strong operating system share on devices. While Google is not receiving licensing fees for Android, Android tablets will likely be faster when accessing the Web, and designed to drive higher search volumes (like Android smartphones). The risk would be that tablet users do fewer searches than PC users (due to apps usage).
It was surprising, to my eyes at least, to see what degree Google’s Android seemed to dominate announcements from hardware manufacturers. Even Android-based GoogleTV got some airtime from Samsung, Vizio and others. Besides its own presentation, Microsoft (MSFT) wasn’t mentioned much. Blackberry’s (RIMM) PlayBook didn’t get a lot of attention, and Nokia (NOK)? *crickets*
That being said, Apple (AAPL), and now HP (HPQ), are now shying away from CES and choosing to have their own events. Microsoft had a few tablet announcements but Samsung, Sony (SNE), HTC and the other big international firms seemed to have big plans directed squarely at Google’s OS.