CE.org/i3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INNOVATION ALL AROUND US................................ 1
CEA LEADERSHIP ..............................................................3
CEA MARKET RESEARCH............................................7
CEA TECHNOLOGY & STANDARDS......................9
ACCESSORIES..................................................................... 13
AUDIO .......................................................................................19
AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS .................................41
DIGITAL IMAGING ...........................................................47
GAMING..................................................................................55
HEALTH AND FITNESS TECHNOLOGY ............ 61
HOME THEATER ...............................................................67
TECHHOME ..........................................................................85
VIDEO .......................................................................................91
CONTRIBUTORS:
Consumer Electronics
Gary Shapiro, CEA president and CEO
Jeff Joseph, senior vice president
Cindy Stevens, senior director, publications
Mark Chisholm, manager, publications
Justin Siraj, coordinator, publications
Ian Shields, senior graphic designer
Jenni Moyer, director, marketing
Association (CEA)®
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS:
Jim Barry
Alan Breznick
Robert Calem
Mark Chisholm
Joe Palenchar
Alan Richter
Bill Schiffner
Justin Siraj
Murray Slovick
Greg Tarr
Stewart Wolpin
WIRELESS.............................................................................121
HISTORY................................................................................127
CHRONOLOGY: CE MILESTONES.......................177
INDUSTRY RESOURCES ........................................... 193
CE.ORG/I3
1919 S. Eads Street
Arlington, VA 22202
Tel: 703-907-7600
Fax: 703-907-7601
email: CEA@CE.org
CE.org/i3
2015 Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®
May be reproduced in part, provided credit is
given to CEA.
A special supplement to i3 magazine
INNOVATION ALL AROUND US
Each year CES® provides a snapshot of
an industry on the move, reinventing
itself with a torrent of new products
and technologies, and ingenious uses
for existing devices. If anyone needed
evidence that we’re living in a totally
connected digital world, 2015 CES
provided it with a flourish.
Connected homes, connected vehicles,
connected individuals with devices
in pockets, purses on their wrists or
embedded in clothing – everywhere one
looked in the massive 2.2 million net
square feet of exhibit space populated by
more than 3,600 exhibitors, the digital
future was on full display.
But it was more than the sheer size that
gave 2015 CES its special quality; there
was a buzz of innovation, a palpable vibe
that this is the place where innovation
comes to market.
The breadth and reach of consumer
electronics was evident at the show too.
Joining the more than 400 startups in
Eureka Park (nearly 10 times the number
from its first year in 2012), there were
companies in the new Tech West area
of CES that might have surprised some
visitors – among them Lowe’s, First Alert,
Carrier and Whirlpool. These old-line
companies – but first time CES exhibitors
– represent the expansion of the show and,
more importantly, the broadening of the
industry far beyond its traditional audio
and video roots.
Also in Vegas, the new “C Space” exhibits
and sessions highlighted the integration of
advertising, content, delivery and devices
in an expanding mix.
The theme of rejuvenation is underscored
by the year-over-year growth in emerging
product categories pumping new revenues
into an already robust industry. Revenue
from smartphones grew to more than $51
billion in 2014 and should to grow again
this year. Laptops, tablets and videogame
consoles and software also maintained
their momentum racking up $17 billion,
$26 billion and $19 billion respectively. All
told these 21st century technologies and
products now make up more than half of
all annual sales at $115 billion, fueling the
surge to a record $213 billion in overall
industry sales in 2014.
Even a mature category like television,
the mainstay of the industry’s first half
century, continues to sell more than 35
million units per year and is experiencing
its own rebirth with the advent of smart or
connected TVs, 4K Ultra HD (UHD) and
new display technologies like OLED. In
2014, shipments of 4K UHD sets to dealers
surged to 1.3 million units worth $2.4
billion to halt the downward slide of the
average unit TV price. Total video display
sales were $18 billion.
Another bedrock category, audio, has its
own innovations and a modest resurgence
with impressive growth of premium
headphones and the rapid rise of wireless
Bluetooth speakers. More than 95 million
headphones totaling $1.8 billion were sold
in 2014 along with 7.7 million wireless
speakers worth $812 million. There is also
the promise of high-resolution audio that
appeals to discriminating listeners who
decry the limitations of most digital music
and still lament the passing of vinyl.
Videogame consoles are another mature
category that has reinvented itself in the
face of increasing competition from game
play on handheld devices. The newest
generation of consoles are sophisticated
CE.ORG/I3
computers at the forefront of many
technologies like gesture control and
virtual reality that are now filtering into
other products. In 2014, game console
sales rebounded to surpass the $4 billion
mark and software sales moved up to
$13.7 billion.
The tablet computer is another testament
to the rapid pace of change. Since the
iPad’s introduction just five years ago,
tablet sales rocketed to record sales and
settled on a high plateau in 2014 with sales
of 78 million units for $25 billion, down
five percent from the previous year.
Notebook computers also continue to
sell well even in the face of the tablet’s
popularity with 26 million unit sales in
2014 for $16 billion. Even the staid desktop
still sold more than nine million units
worth more than $6 billion.
The handheld mobile device category,
including smartphones, is the singular
most transformative product in consumer
electronics history. The smartphone
has become a ubiquitous presence with
uses that were unpredictable when the
simple cell phone came into widespread
use two decades ago. In the past two
years the market has taken a surprising
turn – as phones got bigger after getting
ever smaller. The most popular is now
the five-inch or larger screen “phablet,”
that has played a part in the levelling off
of tablet sales. Whatever they are called,
smartphones now represent the lion’s
share of wireless sales.
The combination of digital technology,
ever-smaller sensors and consistently
reliable wireless networks has given rise
to the phenomenon known as the Internet
of Things or the Internet of Everything.
The result is a myriad of devices that
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Digital America 2014 | TABLE OF CONTENTS
connect to other devices, the cloud (i.e.
the Internet) or to a smartphone. Today,
everything from thermostats to soccer
balls, crockpots to baby booties, contains
sensors that can be monitored remotely or
used to control the device.
Wearable tech represents another nascent
category just beginning to bloom.
Consumers are investing in fitness
wristbands and smartwatches. The
category surpassed $1 billion in 2014 and
the entrance of Apple into the smartwatch
market this year has the potential to
build substantially on the base already
in place. These devices represent the tip
of the iceberg of the burgeoning health
and fitness tech category with millions of
consumers quantifying their lives.
The industry segment once known as
car stereo has blossomed into totally
connected vehicles chock full of
electronics for navigation, entertainment
and security. Advanced wireless
technology, next generation sensors and
artificial intelligence now combine in
automobiles that drive themselves. At
2015 CES Audi had an autonomous vehicle
make the trip from San Francisco to Las
Vegas, a Mercedes cruised the Vegas strip
sans driver and BMW showed a valet that
let a driver leave a smart car that could
find an open parking space on its own
and return when called. Total sales for
automotive electronics in 2014 surpassed
$13.5 billion, with the majority factoryinstalled.
Connected homes have been a popular
topic for years, but this is another area
where advances in wireless technology
have spurred a new era of growth. Now
consumers can connect devices without
having to tear up the walls or rewire the
house. And like most everything these
days such connected devices can be
controlled via smartphone.
While CEA is best known for producing
CES every January, the association is at
work year round with government affairs,
standards setting, communications and
educational efforts on behalf of member
companies and consumers.
Interoperability and compatibility are
key to the success of the connected
home. CEA’s TechHome Rating System
connects companies, retailers and
consumers, laying out a technological
infrastructure and a unified technology
roadmap. CEA’s government affairs staff
works with regulators and legislators on
issues including supporting strategic
immigration reform and safe in-vehicle
technology as well as stopping patent
litigation abuse.
As part of those efforts, CEA hosts its
annual CES on the Hill each spring
on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to
showcase innovative technologies at the
center of tech policy debates. At the 2015
event, more than 500 attendees including
30 members of Congress interacted
with CE products that demonstrate the
importance of pro-innovation policies.
For in-vehicle tech, CEA has two industrywide initiatives, the “Innovating Safety”
campaign and the “Driver Device Interface
Working Group” that leverage educational
efforts and recommend practices to
address the problem of distracted driving.
CEA also promotes the industry
through the Innovation Movement
(DeclareInnovation.com), which to brings
together an engaged community of
industry professionals, entrepreneurs and
individual citizens who believe innovation
is critical to American global leadership
and economic growth.
Security and privacy continue to be
overarching issues in the Innovation
Economy and CEA encourages regulators
and legislators to maintain consumer
safety, security and job creation while
refraining from making rules that stifle
innovation and choke off potentially useful
services and products.
the ability to control the device with a
smartphone or tablet and the proliferation
of tiny action camcorders.
Spurred by this latest round of innovative
new products, the industry appears to
be on the cusp of another surge. And
consumers are on board for the ride. The
CEA Index of Consumer Expectations
(ICE), which measures consumer
expectations of the entire U.S economy,
increased 3.3 points from January to
February 2015 to reach 181.2. Additionally,
that month’s ICE jumped 13.6 points yearover-year and reached its highest level for
the month of February since the Index
began tracking in 2007.
The news is also encouraging for the
tech sector. ICTE, the CEA Index of
Consumer Technology Expectations, was
considerably higher in February 2015 than
the previous year and the highest since the
measure began in 2007.
In these pages you will get a look at the
details of recent history and the promise
for the future in the many varied product
categories that comprise the vast and
still growing consumer technology
marketplace. n
GARY SHAPIRO
President and CEO
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®
Other emerging categories that made a
big splash at CES include 3D printing and
unmanned aerial vehicles, aka drones.
Drones represent a product category that
is blossoming thanks to the convergence
of more robust wireless connections,
CE.org/i3
2
CEA LEADERSHIP
2015 CEA EXECUTIVE BOARD
CHAIRMAN
VICE CHAIRMAN
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN
Daniel Pidgeon
David Hagan
Jay McLellan
Industry Executive Advisor
Chairman
Starpower
Chairman and CEO
Boingo Wireless
Vice President
Leviton Security and Automation
Mike Fasulo
President and COO
Sony Electronics Inc.
Ron Freeman
Patrick Lavelle
Randy Fry
Henry Juszkiewicz
Mike Mohan
Eliott Peck
John Penney
Steve Tiffen
President and CEO
VOXX International Corp.
President
Fry’s Electronics
Senior Vice President
Imaging Technologies and
Communications Group and
Chairman and CEO, Canon Information
and Technology Services Inc.
Canon U.S.A. Inc.
CEO
Gibson Guitar Corp.
Chief Strategy Officer
Starz
CEO
AAMP of America
Chief Merchandising Officer
Best Buy
President and CEO
The Tiffen Company
Sally Washlow
President
Cedar Electronics Corp.
PRESIDENT AND CEO
TREASURER
SECRETARY
Gary Shapiro
Glenda MacMullin
Karen Chupka
CEA
Chief Operating Officer/
Chief Financial Officer
CEA
CE.ORG/I3
Senior Vice President, CES and
Corporate Business Strategy
CEA
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2015 CEA BOARD OF INDUSTRY LEADERS
Julie Bauer
Lee Cheng
Rick Goricki
Craig Birmingham
Henry Chiarelli
Joellyn Gray
Eric Bodley
Kristen Cook
Jim Hamilton
John Bosch
Eric Davidson
David Hanchette
Jeff Bradly
Peter Fannon
Ximena Hartsock
James Braun
Andy Fathollahi
Russ Johnston
Jim Buzckowski
Bob Fields
Noel Lee
Gregg Chason
Dan Fulmer
Mara Lewis
President, Panasonic Consumer
North America & Global
Panasonic Digital
Vice President & GM CE, Retail, &
eCommerce Reseller Channels
Ingram Micro
President and CEO
Future Ready Solutions
President and CEO
Grand Destiny
Senior Vice President Devices
AT&T Mobility
President and CEO
Dual Electronics Corp.
Henry Ford Technical Fellow &
Director, EE Systems
Ford
Vice President, Government
and Industry Affairs
Funai Corp. Inc. and P & F USA Inc.
Chief Legal Officer, SVP of Corporate
Development, Head of the Office
of the Chairman and Corporate
Secretary Newegg
EVP, Industry Relations
Gibson
Managing Director
BDS Marketing
President
American Automation &
Communications Inc.
Vice President, Corporate &
Government Affairs
Panasonic Corp. of North America
Founder and CEO
Incipio
President and CEO
EXOS Systems Inc.
President
FulTech Solutions Inc.
CE.org/i3
Vice President Sales, Mobile
Plantronics Inc.
Director, Marketing
and Imaging Division
Fujifilm North America
CEO
Identity Ventures LLC
Vice President Business
Development
Legrand
Co-Founder
Phone2Action
Executive Vice President, Marketing,
Product Planning & Corporate
Communications
Pioneer Americas Pioneer
Electronics (USA) Inc.
Head Monster
Monster Inc.
CEO and Co-Founder
Stopped.at
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Digital America 2014 | TABLE OF CONTENTS
Carl Mathews
Eric Reed
Sean Stapleton
Denise Morales
Larry Richenstein
Joe Stinziano
Enrique Muyshondt
Carmichael Roberts
Bob Struble
Daniel Novak
David Rodarte
Fred Towns
Mike O’Neal
Woody Scal
Doug Webster
Laura Orvidas
John Shalam
Skip West
Derek Pace
Jack Sheng
Gary Yacoubian
Michael Pope
Eric Smith
Walt Zerbe
Senior Director of Mobile
Merchandising
Crutchfield Corp.
Executive Vice President of
Global Sales & Channel Strategy
Beats Electronics
President
DesktopFab Inc.
Vice President, Global Marketing,
PR & Communication
Qualcomm Inc.
President
Linear LLC
Vice President,
Consumer Electronics
Amazon.com
Owner
Certified Sounds LLC
President
Audio Video Interiors
Vice President, Entertainment
& Tech Policy
Verizon Communications
Founder/Special Advisor to the CEO
Unwired Technology LLC
Chairman and Co-Founder
MC10
CEO
ChangingVelocity
Chief Revenue Officer
Fitbit Inc.
Chairman and Founder
VOXX International Corp.
Co-Founder and CEO
eForCity Corp.
CEO
Reardon Advisors
CE.org/i3
President and CEO
Warrantech Corp
Executive Vice President,
Consumer Business Division
Samsung Electronics America
President and CEO
iBiquity Digital Corp.
President
New Age Electronics, a Division of
SYNNEX
Vice President, Global Marketing
and Corporate Communications
Cisco
President
MAXSA Innovations
President and Managing Partner
Specialty Technologies/SVS
Product Manager
Audio & Connected Home
Legrand
5
CHARTING THE INDUSTRY
CEA’s comprehensive market intelligence
covers all categories in the $286 billion
consumer electronics (CE) industry
including sales statistics, economic
analysis and consumer research. This
exclusive research is valued at more than
$1 million annually. Member companies
also have access to CEA’s extensive
research library as well as informative
publications, webinars, presentations and
events during the year.
Industry Sales Data
CEA delivers industry sales statistics –
past, present and future – in the following
reports:
• CE MarketMetrics – tracks shipments
of CE products from the factory to
U.S. consumer sales channels. CE
MarketMetrics’ weekly and monthly
reports cover more than 50 product
categories; and the program’s semiannual forecasts provide a six-year
snapshot of unit sales, dollar sales and
average product price.
• U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales &
Forecasts – featuring one-year and fiveyear sales forecasts, these reports detail
the size and growth of a wide array of
electronics products. Produced twice a
year.
• GfK Digital World: Global Retail
Technology Sales & Forecasts –
semiannual global retail sales and
forecasts of CE products, produced
jointly with GfK Boutique Research.
• CE Historical Data – a comprehensive
database of factory unit and dollar sales,
average wholesale price and household
penetration rates across more than
50 categories of consumer technology
products.
Economic Analysis
If you’re interested in how current
geo-political events could impact your
businesses’ bottom line, CEA’s chief
economist can help you understand the big
picture issues facing the CE industry and
offer suggestions about how to develop
your business plan around them.
dozen custom research reports produced
each year. In the last 12 months, CEA
has produced reports on topics ranging
from sports and technology and wearable
activity trackers, to the latest in 4K Ultra
HD technology and the smart home.
Latest CEA Research Reports:
• China Research - Brand Sentiment and
Path to Purchase
CEA provides valuable insights into
economic trends impacting CE businesses
through presentations and webinars,
as well as through the CEA Consumer
Sentiment Index, a monthly report that
measures consumer confidence in the
economy and the outlook for technology
spending, which CEA has been tracking
since January 2007.
• 17th Annual CE Ownership and Market
Potential Study
CEA’s new book, introduced at CES 2015,
Digital Destiny: How the New Age of data
Will Transform the Way We Work, Live, and
Communicate, explores how the world’s
mass adoption of digital technologies
portends the beginning of a new era for
humanity in the realms of economics,
health, travel and culture. Grounded
in the lessons of the past and with a
unique understanding of the present,
Digital Destiny illuminates the future by
acknowledging the power and vitality of
data.
• Over-the-Top (OTT) Video Consumption
Consumer Technologies
Research Studies
CEA’s deep understanding of the consumer
technology industry, combined with
innovative and proven market research
methodologies and analysis techniques,
enables CEA to provide members with
insightful, actionable research. CEA
members have access to more than two
CE.ORG/I3
• 13th Annual State of the Builder Study
• Sports and Technology Study 6th Edition
• Content Distribution and Discovery
Revolution
• Wearable Activity Trackers: Engaging
Consumers to Monitor Their Health
• 4K Ultra HD Update: Consumer Adoption
and Awareness
• The Market for High-Resolution Audio
• The State of Play in the U.S. Wireless
Retail Market
• Enhancing the In-Store Retail Experience
Using Mobile Technology
• 2014 Black Friday Report
• GfK Digital World Quarterly Global Tech
Spending Analysis Q3 2014
• 2014 Pre-Black Friday Report
• CE Recycling and Reuse 2014 Edition
• Research Brief: Trends in Audio and
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Digital America 2014 | TABLE OF CONTENTS
Video Streaming
•Pre-Black Friday (November)
• Eye on Emerging Technology: 3D Printing
•Black Friday (November)
•Smart Home Ecosystem: IoT and
Consumers
International Research
Upcoming Reports:
•2nd Annual CE Accessories at Retail
(August)
•Consumer Journey to Purchase: Audio/
High Resolution (September)
•Consumer Journey to Purchase: Wearable
Fitness (September)
•Consumer Journey to Purchase: Wireless
(September)
•The Role of Connectivity in the Consumer
Purchasing Journey (September)
•22nd Annual CE Holiday Purchase
Patterns (October)
CEA produced nine country studies
last year: China, Russia, Czech Republic,
Poland, Nordics, Spain, UK, France
and Israel. Studies are available free to
members.
Research Library
CEA’s team of professional librarians is a
beneficial member resource, fielding the
most challenging questions and requests
using CEA research as well as third-party
sources. CEA members have full access
to library resources. The library also is
the first point-of-contact for questions on
CEA. Contact the call center at 703-9077600 or visit store.CE.org to purchase
reports.
CE.org/i3
Webinars, Presentations and
Events
CEA’s market research webinars and
presentations, led by industry experts,
provide insights into current industry
research and trends, including seasonal
updates, political events and economic
overviews. CEA analysts also present
industry research at events throughout the
year, including CEA’s Research Summit.
CEA’s webinars are free to members and
can be accessed for a fee by non-members. n
8
TECHNOLOGY & STANDARDS
Technical standards describe how to design,
build, use or test something by using common
processes or procedures. Standards are
crucial to the industry because they allow CE
manufacturers to make products that will work
with other manufacturers’ products. They also
allow consumers to compare the performance of
different products.
Imagine if the connector that joins your TV
set to your cable or satellite system wasn’t
standardized. There might be hundreds of TV
cables out there, one to connect TV set A to
cable system X, another to connect TV set B to
system X, a third to connect set A to system Y,
and so on. Imagine if there wasn’t a standard
describing the signals used for wireless Internet
connectivity. Your laptop might have wireless
connectivity in your office, but not in your hotel
room. It might work in your home, but not at the
airport. And what if there wasn’t a standard way
of measuring the power consumed by a TV set?
A set that uses 250 watts might appear to use
less energy than a set that typically uses only
150 watts simply because it was tested under
more favorable conditions.
CEA’s standards committees develop and
improve technical standards to help the CE
industry grow and prosper. Participation in
CEA’s standardization efforts is free for CEA
members. Taking advantage of this benefit
provides members with insider knowledge
and early access to key process and application
information, supporting innovation and the
development of new products. CEA maintains a
library of CE industry standards, and is always
on the lookout for areas where new standards
might make the industry’s future brighter. For a
complete list of CEA standards, current projects
and information on how to get involved, visit
standards.CE.org.
ORDER CEA STANDARDS FROM TECHSTREET
CEA members get a 25 percent discount when purchasing individual CEA
standards and bulletins from Techstreet at 800-699-9277 or 734-780-8000,
or by visiting techstreet.com. Receive your CEA member discount by using
coupon code CEA2015.
CEA INDUSTRY STANDARDS
AUDIO
• CEA-11 S-2014, Turntable Measurement Standard
• ANSI/CEA-426-B R-2011, Loudspeakers, Optimum Amplifier Power
• CEA-490-A R-2008, Test Methods of Measurement for Audio Amplifiers
• CEA-560 R-2011, Standard Method of Measurement for Compact Disc Players
• ANSI/CEA-2010-B, Standard Method of Measurement for Powered Subwoofers
• ANSI/CEA-2034, Standard Method of Measurement for In-Home Loudspeakers
Video
• CEA-23-B R-2014, Measurement Procedures for Determining Compliance with
FCC Rules for “Cable-Ready Consumer Electronics Equipment”
• ANSI/CEA-109-D R-2009, Intermediate Frequencies for Entertainment Receivers
• CEA-542-D, Cable Television Channel Identification Plan
• CEA-544-C R-2014, Low Frequency Immunity of Tuners in A Cable System
• ANSI/CEA-639, Consumer Camcorder or Video Camera Low Light Performance
• ANSI/CEA-774-C, TV Receiving Antenna Performance Presentation and
Measurement
• ANSI/CEA-909-B, Antenna Control Interface
• ANSI/CEA-2028-B, Color Codes for Outdoor TV Receiving Antennas
• ANSI/CEA-2032-B, Indoor TV Receiving Antenna Performance Standard
• ANSI/CEA-2037-A, Determination of Television Set Power Consumption
CE.ORG/I3
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Digital America 2014 | TABLE OF CONTENTS
•ANSI/CEA-2038, Command–Driven Analog IR-Synchronized Active Eyewear
•ANSI/CEA-2041, Standard for a Round Tactile Indicator
•ANSI/CEA-2043, Set-top Box (STB) Power Measurement
• CEA-CEB4 S-2013, Recommended Practice for VCR Specifications
•CEA-CEB11-C, NTSC/ATSC Loudness Matching
•CEA-CEB16-A, Active Format Description (AFD) & Bar Data Recommended Practice
• CEA-CEB20 R-2013, A/V Synchronization Processing Recommended Practice
•CEA-CEB26-B, Mobile/Handheld DTV Implementation Guidelines
•CEA-TVSB5 R-2011, Multi-Channel TV Sound System BTSC System Recommended Practices
•CEA-TR-1, Home Illumination Study
TV Data
• CEA-516 S-2013, Joint EIA/CVCC Recommended Practice for Teletext: North American Basic Teletext Specification (NABTS)
• ANSI/CEA-608-E R-2014, Line 21 Data Services
•ANSI/CEA-708-E, Digital Television (DTV) Closed Captioning
•ANSI/CEA-708.1, Digital Television (DTV) Closed Captioning: 3D Extensions
•ANSI/CEA-766-D, U.S. and Canadian Region Rating Tables (RRT) and Content Advisory Descriptors for Transport of Content
Advisory Information Using ATSC Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP)
• ANSI-J-STD-42-B (CEA-814-B), Emergency Alert Messaging for Cable
• ANSI/CEA-2020 R-2014, Other VBI Waveforms
• ANSI-J-STD-70 (CEA-2035), Emergency Alert Metadata for the Home Network
•CEA-CEB12-B, DTV Recommended Practice for Locating and Navigating among ATSC Television Channels (Including PSIP
Recommendations)
•CEA-CEB21, Recommended Practice for Selection and Presentation of DTV Audio
•CEA-TR-3, Closed Captioning in IP-delivered Video Programming
DTV Interface
• CEA-679-C R-2013, National Renewable Security Standard (NRSS)
• CEA-761-B R-2012, DTV Remodulator Specification with Enhanced OSD Capability
•ANSI/CEA-762-B, DTV Remodulator Specification
• CEA-770.2-D R-2012, Standard Definition TV Analog Component Video Interface
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Digital America 2014 | TABLE OF CONTENTS
•CEA-770.3-E, High Definition TV Analog Component Video Interface
• ANSI/CEA-775-C R-2013, DTV 1394 Interface Specification
• ANSI/CEA-775.2-A R-2013, Service Selection Information for Digital Storage Media Interoperability
• CEA-796-A R-2012, NRSS Copy Protection Systems
• CEA-799-A R-2012, On-Screen Display Specification
•ANSI/CEA-805-E, Data Services on the Component Video Interfaces
• ANSI/CEA-849-B R-2013, Application Profiles for CEA-775 Compliant DTVs
•ANSI/CEA-861-F, A DTV Profile for Uncompressed High Speed Digital Interfaces
•CEA-861.1, Audio Format Extensions
•CEA-861.3, HDR Static Metadata Extensions
•ANSI/CEA-2040, SD Card Common Interface Standard
• CEA-CEB5-B R-2012, Recommended Practice for DTV Receiver “Monitor” Mode Capability
Portable, Handheld and In-Vehicle Electronics
•ANSI/CEA-803-B, Mobile Electronics Wiring Designations for Audio and Vehicle Security/Convenience
• ANSI/CEA-885 R-2013, Remote Starter Safety Preview
• ANSI/CEA-2003-C R-2013, Digital Audiobook File Format and Player Requirements
•ANSI/CEA-2006-B, Testing & Measurement Methods for Mobile Audio Amplifiers
•ANSI/CEA-2009-B, Performance Specification for Public Alert Receivers
•ANSI/CEA-2015, Mobile Electronics Cabling Standard
•ANSI/CEA-2017-A, Common Interconnection for Portable Media Players
• ANSI/CEA-2017.1 R-2013, Serial Communication Protocol for Portable Electronic Devices
• ANSI/CEA-2031 R-2014, Testing and Measurement Methods for Mobile Loudspeaker Systems
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Shape the Future of the CE Industry:
CEA Technology & Standards Forums
Test Your Products at CEA PlugFests
CEA’s PlugFest events help the industry migrate from
standards on paper to products that work together.
Designers and engineers bring early development
products to these CEA-sponsored events, which
focus on product connectivity and interoperability.
They encourage manufacturers to come together and
test interfaces in a semi-private, round-robin fashion.
Designers can sort out connectivity issues between
different manufacturers before products get into
consumers’ hands.
CEA’s first IPv6 PlugFest was held April 20-22,
2015, in Atlanta, GA. For information about future
IPv6 testing opportunities contact Mike Bergman,
mbergman@CE.org.
CEA hosts Technology & Standards Forums to bring
together leaders who develop the standards that will
shape the industry’s future. These forums provide
a common venue for technology professionals to
share ideas and chart strategy for future innovation.
Attendees debate, develop and finalize crucial
CE standards using CEA’s streamlined standards
development process which is accredited by the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Join us at Sony Electronics Inc. in San Diego, CA
September 15-17, 2015. For details visit CE.org.
CEA’s fall PlugFest will be held November 1-5, 2015,
in Burlingame, CA. For details, contact Leslie King,
lking@CE.org.
CE.org/i3
12
ACCESSORIES
Trends
• More sports and Bluetooth headphones.
• More Bluetooth speakers.
estimated to have shrunk 0.9 percent to
$8.37 billion.
Once again, the continued growth
of smartphones is expected to drive
• Headphones with sensors tracking fitness
metrics.
• Headphones with built-in audio sources.
• Chargers using Qualcomm Quick Change
2.0 technology.
• Built-in charging functionality in a wider
number of accessories.
• More smart home products.
• More connected car products.
• Wearable accessories including smart
watch replacement bands.
• Ruggedized materials used in a wider
assortment of accessories.
• Lifestyle and personalization in
accessories such as colors and new
designs.
• Drone and other unmanned system
accessories.
The entire U.S. CE accessories market,
including batteries, blank media and
unmanned systems, is projected by CEA
to grow 1.5 percent to $22.32 billion in
2015. Granted, that’s not a whole lot of
growth. But it would represent a slight
improvement from 2014, when the
industry was estimated to be basically flat
at $21.98 billion.
Stripping out batteries, blank media and
unmanned systems, CE accessory sales are
projected to inch up 1.2 percent to $8.47
billion in 2015. That’s an improvement
over last year, when accessory sales were
TOTAL CE
ACCESSORIES
Sales to Dealers (Billions)
2011
8.06
2012
8.3
2013
8.45
2014
8.37
2015p
8.47
p=projected
Includes: TV, Home Theater & Audio, Digital Imaging,
Wireless Phone, Videogame and Computing Accessories.
Source: CEA Market Research
the sale of related accessories, giving
manufacturers and retailers opportunities
to increase revenue, margin and customer
traffic in their stores and online this year.
Wireless phone accessories are expected
to be the largest driver of CE accessory
sales in 2015, followed by computing
accessories, which include products for
tablets.
But 2015 is expected to bring a “role
reversal of sorts” to the PC market, CEA
said in its 2015 U.S. Consumer Electronics
Sales & Forecasts 2010-2015 report. After
several years of very strong growth, tablet
sales “slowed precipitously” in 2014, and
that trend is expected to continue for the
foreseeable future, it said. Tablet ownership
rates increased significantly over the
past two years and sales are now slowing,
accordingly, in part due to ownership
rates hitting near-term saturation levels.
“Replacement cycles have stagnated as
consumers have held onto tablets longer,”
the report said. As a result, the life cycle for
CE.ORG/I3
the product category has expanded.
Slowing tablet sales in 2014, however,
provided an opportunity for notebook
computer sales to accelerate, a trend CEA
expects to continue into 2015.
Headphones, coming off a year of strongerthan-expected sales, are also expected to
be a major contributor to total accessory
sales growth in 2015.
But beyond those product categories,
the CE accessory market is expected
to face challenges including declining
interest in digital imaging and MP3
player accessories – much of it the result
of smartphones and tablets, which come
equipped with digital cameras and play
music – and the lack of many new kinds of
accessories to offset those declines.
‘Nascent’ Unmanned System
Market
While there is growing interest in
consumer unmanned systems, including
drones, unmanned vehicles and home
robots, those products aren’t expected to
have a major impact on total accessory
sales this year. Revenue generated by
unmanned systems is still expected to
trail far behind mobile and computer
accessories, as well as headphones and
videogame accessories.
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13
AUDIO
Trends
• Total factory level home audio sales,
including multi-room AV systems, will
rise 4.5 percent in 2015 to $3.61 billion,
CEA forecasts.
• Home audio sales are driven by slim
one-piece amplified soundbars, wireless
multi-room audio systems and other
networked-audio products.
• High-resolution home and portable
audio products reproduce downloaded
lossless music files with better-than-CD
sound quality.
• New wireless multi-room audio
systems use smartphones and tablets as
controllers to send music via Wi-Fi from
PCs, smartphones and tablets to tabletop
speakers throughout the house.
• Sleek-looking, simple to install
soundbars improve the sound of thin
flat-panel TVs, often simulate surround
sound, and play back music in the home.
• Consumers are trading in the earbuds
that come with their MP3 players and
music-playing smartphones, boosting
headphone sales by 50.5 percent in 2014
and a forecast 23.1 percent in 2015.
• Sales of portable Bluetooth speakers are
surging because they play back music
wirelessly from any Bluetooth-equipped
smartphone, tablet or laptop.
• Portable audio maintained flat factory
level sales of $5 billion in 2014 despite
rapidly falling sales of MP3 players.
• Factory level sales of portable Bluetooth
speakers surged an estimated 111 percent
in 2014 and will jump 21.8 percent more
in 2015 to $989 million, CEA statistics
show.
• Factory level sales of home audio
components such as AV receivers,
speakers and soundbars will grow for
the sixth consecutive year in 2015 to a
factory level $2.41 billion, up 6.7 percent,
CEA forecasts.
Home, Portable Audio
Cool Again
The shift from playing physical CDs
to playing digital music files is wellentrenched in the home and portable
audio industries. Home, portable and even
car audio products have embraced the
playback of downloaded music and the
streaming of cloud-based music services.
Other new digital music sources include
satellite radio and HD Radio.
These new music sources have one thing
in common. They use “lossy” compressed
digital audio formats such as MP3,
Windows Media Audio (WMA), and
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) as their
music formats of choice. Increasingly,
however, music downloads in “lossless”
high-resolution formats, such as
192kHz/24-bit FLAC (Free Lossless Audio
Codec) and PCM (pulse-code modulation)
are available to play back music with the
clarity and resolution of mixing-studio
masters, enabling consumers to hear all of
the nuances that artists recorded and want
us to hear.
Compressed music got its start on the PC,
making it possible to store thousands of
songs and select them by title, artist or
CE.ORG/I3
genre. In 1998, consumers began enjoying
those songs on the go when the first widely
available MP3 player went on sale in the
U.S.
The big switch: Easy access to huge
personal libraries of songs at home and
on the go turned the audio industry
upside down, driving the rise of portable
MP3 players. And now, in another major
shift, music-storing and music streaming
smartphones have replaced dedicated MP3
players, whose sales continue to drop like
a rock.
The rise of downloads and streamed
music also forced home audio suppliers
to remake their products to tap into new
digital music sources. Suppliers added
home network technology to component
AV receivers, tabletop radios, compact
tabletop stereo systems, home-theaterin-a-box (HTiB) systems, and active
soundbars. Via Wi-Fi, these products
stream music from networked PCs or
network attached storage (NAS) devices,
from smartphones and tablets, and
through a networked broadband modem,
from Internet radio stations and such
music services as Pandora and Slacker.
Wireless rising: In another market
change, smartphone-, tablet- and PCstored music has driven up sales of
wireless speakers equipped with either
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store at store.CE.org.
cell phone itself or streamed by the cell
19
AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS
Trends
• CEA consumer research shows that,
in Q4 2014, roughly 30 percent of U.S.
households owned a vehicle with a
communications, safety or entertainment
system (such as OnStar or Ford SYNC).
• CEA forecasts sales of factory installed
vehicle technologies will increase by
three percent in 2015 to $11.3 billion.
• By 2019, ABI Research forecasts 87
million vehicles worldwide will be
equipped with Wi-Fi hotspots, up from
about 2.2 million vehicles in 2014.
• By 2020, Gartner Inc. forecasts that one
in five vehicles on the road worldwide
– more than 250 million – will be
wirelessly connected to the “Internet of
Things” (IoT), leading to new in-vehicle
telematics and infotainment services
and new automated driving capabilities.
Meanwhile, the IoT universe is expected
to grow to 25 billion “connected things”
by 2020, from 4.9 billion in 2015 (up 30
percent from 2014), Gartner predicts.
• Also by 2020, ABI Research forecasts
that connected telematics systems will
be built into 52 percent of new vehicles
worldwide, up from 13.4 percent in
2014. But automakers will still have
difficulty selling connected car services
to consumers in this timeframe, ABI
says, because many consumers don’t yet
perceive the value of paying for them.
• In the U.S., most drivers who have and
use in-vehicle connectivity are pleased.
According to a Nielsen study conducted
by Harris Poll, roughly 90 percent
of connected car owners are at least
somewhat satisfied with their vehicles’
connected features. Yet these features
remain scarce, Nielsen notes. Only 30
percent of the study’s respondents drove
a car with at least one connected feature,
and the least common features (tied at
seven percent penetration) were vehicle
mobile applications and vehicle Internet
connectivity.
Connectivity Drives
Innovation
While connectivity in autos has become
almost commonplace – it’s now found
in vehicles ranging from the MercedesBenz S-Class to the Ford Fiesta – how
automakers are integrating and tapping
that connectivity is quickly evolving,
experts say.
“There was a lot of activity in 2014 that
set the foundation for getting mobile
applications inside the automobile,” says
Thilo Koslowski, vice president and analyst
at Gartner Inc. in Santa Clara, CA. “That’s
on a trajectory to be completed over the
next couple of years.”
The introductions of Apple CarPlay and
Android Auto as a means to integrate
apps in autos were key developments in
this space last year, and their momentum
has continued. At the 2015 CES, both
automakers and aftermarket autosound
vendors including Pioneer, Sony, JVC and
Kenwood featured an array of products
integrating these platforms, notes
Dominique Bonte, vice president and
practice director for telematics, navigation
and machine-to-machine (M2M) at ABI
Research in London. And more such
product launches will be coming this year
CE.ORG/I3
and next, Bonte anticipates.
At a press event in March, for example,
Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that
CarPlay will be available in 40 models
from every major automaker by the end of
2015.
There have been other key announcements
in the apps integration arena. Last
year, Jaguar Land Rover debuted its
InControl infotainment and connectivity
platform, and at CES announced four new
navigation, entertainment and information
apps added to it by developers.
Ford also announced SYNC 3, a new
connectivity platform coming in 2016 that
is based on BlackBerry technology, rather
than on the Microsoft technology that was
the foundation of prior versions of SYNC.
But, says Richard Doherty, research
director at The Envisioneering Group in
Seaford, New York, “the largest elevators
out there are Apple’s and Google’s attempts
to automate the cockpit for the iOS
ecosystem and separately the Android
ecosystem.”
Although neither is definitively a new
technology – their ability to control a
smartphone via a car’s steering wheel
or in-dash display was preceded by
technology named MirrorLink from the
Car Connectivity Consortium – both
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41
DIGITAL IMAGING
Trends
• Staying connected.
• Sharp declines in digital imaging market.
• Digital imaging market being
cannibalized.
• Shifts in buying patterns.
• Study shows less new product
introductions.
• Americans are taking more photos but
failing to share memories.
• Going mobile.
• Smartphone users hit two billion mark.
• Smartphone and tablet growth helps fuel
the CE accessory category.
• Plenty of action on the camcorder front.
• Best Buy dives back into photo specialty.
• It’s all about the cloud.
Staying Connected
If you had to briefly sum up the major
trends in CE products for 2015, the two
words that come to mind are “connected”
and “mobility”.
“Connected devices will continue to
dominate the market in 2015,” forecasts
Steve Koenig, CEA’s director of industry
analysis. He says that it should come as
no surprise that the key stat from 2014
was the domination of mobile connected
devices. “CE product categories such
as smartphones, tablets and LCD TVs
accounted for more than 50 percent of
total industry revenue in 2014. While we
expect near term market saturation for
tablets, both laptops and LCD TVs remain
remarkably resilient,” he adds.
Koenig reports that tablets and
smartphones are the top two devices of
choice as more consumers embrace the
U.S. CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
HOUSEHOLD PENETRATION FORECAST
2014
2015p
2016p
2017p
Camcorders
31%
36%
39%
42%
Digital Cameras
66
70
72
73
Smartphones
64
67
70
71
Tablets
45
53
57
60
Source: CEA Market Research
reality of anytime, anywhere connectivity.
“Yet, as always, the industry is constantly
moving forward and, as ever, is about
tomorrow as much as today. A host of
new and emerging categories contributed
more than $5 billion to total CE revenues,
boasting an astonishing 187 percent yearover-year increase.”
He says that innovation gives but it also
inevitably, takes away. “We continue to
see certain product sectors, previously
game changers in their own right, now in
steady year-over-year decline as a result
of market saturation. Mobile connected
devices have flourished beyond belief, but
at the direct expense of digital cameras
and camcorders. It’s worth noting the ways
these now mature categories were once
featured players in the CE landscape. This
is the part of the cycle of technology,” says
Koenig.
CEA research reports that tablets continue
to lead the way among connected devices
with household ownership expected
to increase eight percentage points
to 53 percent (more than half of U.S.
households) in 2015. Smartphones are
also expected to increase three percentage
points to 67 percent in 2015 (two-thirds of
U.S. households).
CE.ORG/I3
Devices such as gaming consoles, digital
televisions, desktop computers and
portable gaming devices appear to be
reaching saturation points with just one
or two point increases year-over-year from
2015 through 2017. Portable connected
devices are also continuing to impact
devices like camcorders, digital cameras,
GPS devices and portable MP3 players
which will likely slow their growth over the
next few years.
Koenig adds that the Internet of Things
(IoT) is possibly one of the hottest topics
in technology right now. “Few people
will deny, however, that the phenomenon
of convergent devices shows signs of
dwindling. Indeed, with more household
products able to connect with portable
devices, the Internet of Things is making
it possible to connect anything and
everything to the Internet,” he explains.
Sharp Declines in Digital
Imaging Market
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47
GAMING
Trends
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hardware: up and running.
Software getting up to speed.
Mobile gaming opportunities.
Accessories’ slow climb.
Virtual reality race heats up.
Videogame streaming: finally a reality?
The videogame industry, now reaping
the benefits of being fully within the
eighth generation of videogame consoles,
is seeing continued growth thanks to
increasing dollar sales of both electronic
gaming hardware and software. After
hitting a low point in 2013 – the twilight
years of the seventh generation’s
PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gaming
consoles – the industry rebounded in
2014, growing 14 percent to an estimated
total of $19.28 billion, according to CEA’s
U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and
Forecasts. This total – which includes
gaming hardware and software as well as
e-toys – is forecast to once again increase
in 2015, to $20.57 billion. The late 2013
launches of Microsoft’s Xbox One and
Sony’s PlayStation 4 gaming consoles
continue to play a major role in the growth
of this sector, as gamers nationwide move
to replace their aging seventh generation
consoles and videogame libraries with
new hardware and software.
Hardware Battles it Out
The eighth generation of videogame
consoles kicked off with the release of
the Nintendo Wii U – the 1080p-capable
successor to the wildly popular Nintendo
Wii – in late 2012, followed by the release
of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One a year
later. Sales of electronic gaming hardware
ELECTRONIC GAMING
U.S. Dollar Sales to Dealers (billions)
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015p
Hardware
$4.68
$2.75
$3.09
$4.16
$4.25
Software
17.43
15.07
12.51
1.47
1.32
23.58
19.14
e-toys*
Total
13.70
14.82
1.30
1.43
1.50
16.90
19.28
20.57
*Includes: any electronic educational devices, handheld electronic games, radio controlled vehicles, other battery
operated vehicles, robots and electronically controlled action figures, musical instruments and karaoke machines and any
toys with Wi-Fi and/or USB connectivity. Does not include home robots.
Source: CEA Market Research
have been increasing since the release of
the Nintendo Wii U. After hitting a low
point in 2012, U.S. dollar sales to dealers
have steadily increased each year, with
electronic gaming hardware forecast by
CEA to reach $4.25 billion in 2015.
Worldwide Console
Sales-Seventh Generation*
105
(millions of units)
101
100
95
Hardware sales have been boosted mostly
by the late entrance of Microsoft and
Sony’s home videogame console offerings,
as the Nintendo Wii U has struggled to
match the momentum of its predecessor.
While the seventh generation of gaming
consoles was dominated by the original
Wii with 101 million units sold worldwide,
according to videogame sales tracking
website VGChartz – followed by 85.5
million PlayStation 3 consoles and 84.7
million Xbox 360 consoles, the Wii U has
struggled early this generation. VGChartz
estimates that just 9.5 million Nintendo
Wii U consoles have been sold worldwide
since the consoles introduction in 2012.
This figure trails far behind sales of the
PlayStation 4 and Xbox One videogame
consoles despite their later introduction,
with 21.4 million and 12.1 million sold
worldwide, respectively.
CE.ORG/I3
90
85.5
85
84.7
80
75
Nintendo Wii
Source: VGChartz
Sony
PlayStation 3
Microsoft
Xbox 360
*As of March 2015
After a number of missteps early after the
release of the Xbox One, Microsoft saw
improved sales of its console after offering
a version that did not include or require
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55
HEALTH AND FITNESS
Trends
• Three-fifths (60 percent) of U.S. online
consumers own or use some type of
fitness or health tech product, according
to CEA.
• Pedometers (21 percent) and portable
blood pressure monitors (21 percent)
are the two most popular health and
fitness tech products owned or used
by Americans, followed by fitness
videogames (16 percent), fitness-related
mobile apps (14 percent), digital weight
scales (13 percent) and calorie tracking
devices (13 percent), says CEA.
• Health and fitness devices will generate
dealer sales of more than 23.2 million
units annually by 2018, up from
slightly under 17 million units last year,
according to CEA.
• Due to this growth, health and fitness
devices will produce more than $2.1
billion in annual shipping revenues by
2018, up from about $1.5 billion last year,
says CEA.
• Fitness activity bands will account for
the lion’s share of that total, contributing
more than 17.4 million units and nearly
$1.4 billion in shipment revenues by
2018, CEA forecasts.
• Annual worldwide revenue for sports,
fitness and activity monitors will rise by
nearly $1 billion to $2.8 billion in 2019,
according to IHS.
• Fitness devices will dominate the
wearables market until 2018, with more
than 70 million devices in use by then,
more than three times the number last
year, according to Juniper Research.
CE WEARABLES
Dollar Sales to Dealers (millions)
2012
2013
2014
2015p
Smart Watches
$0.8
$95
$542
$3,110
Smart Eyewear
0
60
151
181
Health and Fitness
648
921
1,508
1,827
Total
$649
$1,075
$2,201
$5,118
Source: CEA Market Research
• Even though the intent to purchase
fitness trackers is low among the general
population (12 percent), tracker sales will
keep climbing because tracker owners
are likely to buy them again in the future,
says CEA.
Health and Fitness Tech
Shows Healthy Gains
In fact, as more Americans snap up the
growing array of calorie counters, fitness
videogames, pedometers, heart-rate
monitors, fitness trackers, digital weight
scales, lap counters, smart watches, motion
sensors in sports gear, sleep trackers,
blood pressure monitors, accelerometers,
smartphone apps and the like for
assistance with their daily health, fitness
and sports routines, these digital tech
products have clearly gone mainstream.
According to research from Parks
Associates, 60 million households will own
at least one fitness tracker by 2019, when
global revenue from connected fitness
trackers will surpass $5 billion. Ownership
of wearable fitness trackers increased
by 10 million units from 2014, to reach a
total of 17 million units in 2015, according
to CEA’s 17th Annual CE Ownership and
Market Potential study.
As expected by many industry experts,
2014 turned out to be a breakout year for
health and fitness technology devices,
software apps and other digital wellness
products. Sales and shipments of such
products climbed again by healthy doubledigit percentages as a bevy of new gadgets
and gizmos hit the retail market and older
products steadily widened their customer
base.
As in previous years, such relatively lowtech devices as pedometers still account
for a sizable share of the market because
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• At the same time, smart watches, which
will increasingly take over the functions
of fitness trackers, will jump in sales in
both the U.S. and worldwide this year and
will soon eclipse fitness bands in sales,
according to CEA.
• The wearable sensor market will expand
sevenfold over the next five years to
486 million units, driven largely by
the demand for fitness and health
monitoring devices, according to IHS.
CE.ORG/I3
61
HOME THEATER
Trends
• A home theater requires an HDTV with
a minimum 37-inch screen size, a video
source encoded with multichannel
surround sound, and audio equipment
that reproduces surround sound.
• The latest high-performance video
display option for a home theater is a
4K Ultra HD (UHD) television, which
delivers four times the resolution of Full
HD 1080p TVs for a total of 3840x2160
pixels.
• Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are among the
new surround sound formats available
on Blu-ray Discs, planned UHD Blu-ray
Discs, and video streaming services,
promising to propel surround sound
realism to new heights.
• New sources of multichannel surround
sound include home video-on-demand
(VOD) services available through
streaming media adapters, smart TVs,
and cable and telco companies’ set-top
boxes (STBs).
• Home audio components such as AV
receivers and separately sold speakers
deliver multichannel surround sound at
the highest performance levels.
• Soundbars represented the fastest
growing major segment in the home
audio industry in 2014, rising 23.3
percent at the factory level to an
estimated $641 million and forecast to
rise another 20.6 percent in 2015, CEA
statistics show.
• Home theater simplified: Many
soundbars use psychoacoustic
techniques to trick the brain into
perceiving surround effects despite the
lack of dedicated surround speakers to
the left and right of the main listening
position.
Home Theater: Getting Better
With Age
Like fine wine, home theater technologies
get better with time.
The latest technologies deliver greater
audio and video realism than ever before
to the delight of people who want to fly off
to a tropical rainforest, dive the deepest
ocean depths, and rocket off to other
worlds without leaving the living room.
New organic light-emitting diode (OLED)
TVs deliver better contrast, brightness
and refresh rates in thinner packages
compared to LCD and plasma TVs. New
4K UHD LCD and OLED displays provide
a resolution of at least eight million active
pixels, or four times the resolution of a
Full HD 1080p HDTVs. New quantum dot
technology appearing in a wide range of
high-end LED LCD TVs in 2015 widens
the range of colors that LCD TVs produce.
And super-sized curved-screen TVs
surround you with video just as surround
sound systems envelope you with audio.
Today, consumers can enjoy a growing
selection of 4K UHD video streaming
services and soon the first 4K Blu-ray
players and 4K Blu-ray movie discs.
The new video sources and displays
deliver images that are more true-to-life
than ever, and surround sound has also
evolved. Through various post-processing
technologies, multi-speaker home theater
CE.ORG/I3
systems enhance realism by deriving
9.1- and 11.1-channel surround sound
from 5.1- and 7.1-channel soundtracks.
The technologies elevate ambient sounds
and widen the front sound stage. But
the evolution of surround sound has not
stopped there.
In 2014, “object-based” surround sound
turned up for the first time in consumer
audio gear and on a handful of Blu-ray
Discs. The technology places individual
sounds inside a room in more places
than can be achieved with traditional
“channel-based” surround sound formats.
The new technologies use “object-based”
sound mixing to treat individual sounds as
objects. Instead of assigning a particular
sound, like a helicopter’s sound, to a
channel or channels, studio mixers assign
specific X (left to right), Y (front to back),
and Z (up and down) coordinates to every
millisecond of a specific sound to describe
that sound’s location in a 360-degree space
around the listener at any given time.
Because studio mixers precisely place and
move multiple individual sounds, each
sound is reproduced clearly and distinctly
to deliver a more life-like experience.
Studios place sounds where they would
occur naturally in a scene, moving in three
dimensions in sync with the on-screen
action.The
Sounds
zip around
and above
following
is an Executive
Summary
of the 2015
edition
of
listeners
with startling
realism;
sounds
Digital
America
. Digitalthe
America
pan more
precisely
around
room.also
A
includes
a
comprehensive
CE
history.
bee buzzes around you, alternately getting
Free for CEA members, non-members
closer and farther away before it flies off
can purchase the report in the CEA
into thestore
distance.
You can hear torrential
at store.CE.org.
rain falling on your head and the surround
67
TECHHOME
U.S. Unit Sales of Smart Home Controllers
and Selected Smart Home Devices
Trends
• By 2017, unit sales of smart home
devices are expected to exceed 35
million units.
Total Smart Home Devices
• About 80 percent of all households with
broadband access have an operating
home network.
• More than 60 percent of current smart
device or system owners spent more
than a day shopping for their purchased
smart home systems or devices.
(with & without security systems)
35.9
35
MILLIONS OF UNITS
• Consumers are more likely to purchase
programmable thermostats and lights
than any other smart home device.
Total Smart Home Controllers
40
• About 10 percent of all U.S. households
have at least one smart device.
29.9
30
24.9
25
20
20.7
15
10
5
0
1.9
1.4
2014
2015p
3.1
2.5
2016p
2017p
Source: CEA and Parks Associates
• Twenty-five percent of U.S. broadband
households purchased their smart
device from a national or local retailer,
compared to around 13 percent who
purchased a device through an online
retailer.
Alongside the universality of mobile
devices and tablets, the expanding
selection of connected consumer
electronics devices and ease of home
installation, home networks are more
common than ever before.
On the rise and now part of many
consumers’ everyday lives, smart devices
have taken the consumer electronics
landscape by storm. The idea of an entire
home being connected by devices was
only a futuristic thought, until recently,
where it is now an attainable reality. With
an affordable price range and a plethora
of companies that produce smart home
devices and networks, consumers are
taking full advantage of turning their
normal home into a smart one. The
Internet is now considered almost as
essential in many homes as electricity
and is seamlessly being used to connect a
network of devices in a home into what is
called the Internet of Things (IoT).
Smart Home
According to CEA and Parks Associates’
whitepaper Smart Home Ecosystem: IoT
and Consumers, over the next two to four
years, most of the home management
products offering benefits to consumers,
distribution, service providers or
manufacturers will be smart home devices.
The whitepaper goes on to say that, “Most
of today’s smart home products are at
the lower edge of envisioned capabilities,
capable of storing data, responding to
user commands from smartphones, tablets
and computers, and sending alerts. More
intelligence, more modeling and more
weaving of information that can help a
product execute better decisions on a
CE.ORG/I3
consumer’s behalf are coming.”
It is true that disruption does not
happen all at once. It takes a couple
tries and business models to finally
find a method that causes disruption.
According to the whitepaper, “Disruption
requires innovative products blended
with innovations in business models.
The industry is watching the edge of the
movement forward. The companies that
mesh product advancement with valuable
business models will have strong positions
for a long time.”
Unit sales of smart home devices are
projected to grow exponentially over the
next three years. CEA and Parks Associates
predictThe
about
25 million
sales of
following
is an unit
Executive
smart devices
to
be
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this
year,
Summary of the 2015 editionnear
of 30
millionDigital
in 2016
and around
millionalso
in
America
. Digital36
America
2017. The
growth
of
smart
home
device
includes a comprehensive CE history.
sales can
befor
attributed
to the non-members
adaptation of
Free
CEA members,
the Internet
as
an
“everyday”
resource.
can purchase the report in the CEA
store at store.CE.org.
85
VIDEO
Trends
• TV shipments to dip from 36.2 million to
34.7 million units in 2015, according to
CEA forecasts.
• U.S. Ultra HD TV shipments to top four
million units in 2015.
• 4K Ultra HD OLED, and quantum dotenabled UHD LED LCD TVs arrive.
• Broadband delivery brings UHD content
to TVs.
Digital television saturation, the impact
of smartphones and streaming video
on peripheral devices and a sustained
economic malaise made for more
challenging times for consumer video
product technologies in 2014. Combined
factory sales of TVs and peripheral devices
declined 11.6 percent to an estimated
$26.8 billion in 2014, according to CEA
market research. CEA predicts overall
video technology wholesale revenue to
decline to $25.6 billion in 2015.
Though there were many positive factors
for the LCD TV market, America’s
fascination with portable video display
devices like tablets and smartphones took
its toll on traditional home television and
video categories in 2014. Once a major
sales driver, factory TV unit sales declined
an estimated seven percent in 2014 to
36.3 million units due substantially to
a declining demand for small and midsized LCD TVs as consumers continued
to shift viewing patterns to tablets for
their small-screen watching. On the
bright side, consumers continued to
vote with their dollars for new 4K Ultra
High-Definition (UHD) TVs, offering four
times the resolution of Full HD models,
and generally larger average screen sizes.
Aggressive price promotions around the
holidays and a discernible improvement
in picture quality helped drive the
new activity. The growth trend was so
significant, in fact, that CEA adjusted its
summer 4K UHD sales forecasts for 2014
from 800,000 to 1.3 million units.
After more than a decade of mostly steady
growth, CEA’s overall TV unit shipment
forecast represents a decline for the
third consecutive year. U.S. household
penetration of digital TVs is now at nearly
90 percent, according to CEA estimates.
The flat-panel TV category, now mainly
LCD TVs and a small mix of Organic
Light Emitting Diode (OLED) TV sets,
are industry staples. Long-time favorite
technologies including cathode ray
tubes, rear-projection TVs and plasma
displays are virtually extinct. The new
OLED technology continue to grow and
evolved at modest levels for the second
year in 2014, bringing better contrast
and brightness levels, lower power
consumption, thinner form factors,
curved-screen form factors and for the
first time, 4K UHD resolution.
In the LCD category, UHD TVs with four
times the resolution of existing Full HD
1080p models continued to advance at a
brisk pace, delivering at least eight million
active pixels. This provided Hollywood
movie studios with further incentive to
begin churning out native content with
the resolution to match these new screens,
and avoid the hiccups that arose after the
launch of the first 3DTVs several years
earlier. That technology continues in the
CE.ORG/I3
market, but is being sold now as a feature
rather than a format. (See the home
theater section).
Meanwhile, video watching via portable
tablets became more commonplace, as
video service providers and over-the-top
(OTT) Internet streaming services made
the process easier than ever before. In
addition, consumers continued to enjoy
using their smartphones and tablets as
second screens to home TVs in order to
multitask or engage in online conversions
around a particular program being viewed
by friends scattered miles apart.
But the increased viewing of video content
over the Internet via mobile devices, smart
TVs and digital media adapters caused the
Blu-ray Disc player category to see its first
factory unit shipment declines in 2014,
with factory unit shipments plummeting
45 percent to six million units. At the same
time, the digital media adapter category,
that provided an inexpensive way of
adding streaming services to TVs, jumped
16.2 percent in 2014 to 10.2 million units
as companies like Amazon, Roku and
Google rolled out popular new devices.
Hope remains that new specifications
for 4K Ultra HD support on Blu-ray Disc
players will renew interest in the optical
disc format, but as this was written final
Theoffollowing
is anwere
Executive
versions
those specs
planned
Summary of the 2015 edition of
to be issued mid-year. All the while,
Digital America. Digital America also
new services
4K UHD downloading
includesfora comprehensive
CE history.
and streaming
continued
to cue
up for
Free for CEA
members,
non-members
playback
candominance.
purchase the report in the CEA
store at store.CE.org.
91
WIRELESS
Trends
• Smartphones will account for 90
percent of all handsets sold in the U.S.
in 2015, but sales growth has hit a limit.
Smartphone unit sales will reach 150
million units in 2015, but are projected
to grow at a slow two percent five year
CAGR through 2020, to 165 million units.
• Driven by the availability of affordable,
shared data plans, cellular-enabled tablet
sales are growing rapidly, showing more
than 50 percent growth in 2014 and
projected at more than 50 percent growth
in 2015.
• Wearable device sales will increase from
less than one million units in 2013, to
more than 24 million units in 2020.
Product categories projected to lead this
growth are fitness bands, smart watches
and smart glasses.
• Double-digit growth in application
downloads will continue. Revenues from
app downloads, in-app purchases and
in-app advertising grew more than 50
percent in 2014 and is projected to grow
20 percent in 2015.
• Viewing of online video on mobile
devices is expected to make up more
than half of all online video views by the
beginning of 2016.
• Most U.S. carmakers are expected to
adopt both Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s
Android Auto, with installations of the
latter projected to outpace those of
CarPlay by 2019.
• Smartphone owners are using social
networking on those devices in droves,
and usage continues to grow. More
than 80 percent of U.S. consumers had
Facebook on their smartphone by the
end of 2014.
On-the-go connectivity is the new
normal. Whether you’re riding the
subway, waiting in line at Starbucks or
walking to work, chances are you have
your mobile device close at hand – or
in hand – and according to CEA market
research, your must-have mobile device is
most likely your smartphone.
Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of U.S.
households own smartphones, surpassing
ownership rates for basic cell phones for
the first time, according to CEA’s 16th
Annual Household CE Ownership and
Market Potential Study. There are nearly
twice as many smartphones in U.S.
households today as there are basic cell
phones.
But smartphones aren’t the only devices
that keep us connected. Tablets, laptops
and mobile hotspots let us access
the Internet – for work or pleasure –
almost anywhere. Today, more than five
dozen U.S. cities, from San Jose, CA to
Cambridge, MA, offer free municipal
Wi-Fi connectivity, enabling consumers
to connect their mobile devices just about
anywhere, at any time.
And with the evolution of the Internet of
Things (IoT) – the phenomenon by which
our otherwise “dumb” devices are made
smarter through wireless connectivity
– we are more connected to each other
and to the things around us than ever
before. Smart devices run the gamut from
baby monitors that can “read” and relay
CE.ORG/I3
your child’s cries, to high-tech appliances
that remind you to pick up milk or know
when to start the spin cycle on your
laundry. According to a consumer survey
fielded by the shopping site FatWallet,
more than one in four (27 percent)
consumers plan to purchase a wireless
device in this category, such as Bluetooth
headphones and speakers, wireless home
automation devices or wearables.
Consumers are eager to cut the cord, but
they also want to stay connected. And
the vast array of devices that connect us
to one another and to the world require
spectrum. There are two categories of
spectrum on which wireless devices
operate – licensed spectrum, which
includes broadcast and cellular signals,
and unlicensed spectrum, which hosts
technologies like Wi-Fi. Cisco reports
that more than 50 percent of mobile
users connect to the Internet over
Wi-Fi. As demand for both licensed
and unlicensed spectrum soars, CEA
is working closely with the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)
and other government agencies to craft
common-sense, forward-looking policies
that enable our devices and encourage
future growth and innovation.
Walk a populated street and focus your
gaze in virtually any direction. You’re
bound to see people on their mobile
following
an hasty
Executive
devices.The
Still,
it wouldis be
to assign
Summary
of the 2015
edition
of
relic status
to landline
phones
just yet.
Digital
America
.
Digital
America
According to the National Center for also
comprehensive
CE year,
history.
Health includes
Statisticsa data
released last
Free for CEA members, non-members
the latest available on the subject, just 41
can purchase the report in the CEA
percent of U.S. households by the end of
store at store.CE.org.
2013 had given up their landline phones
121
RELATED INDUSTRY RESOURCES
Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)
atsc.org
CTIA - The Wireless Association
ctia.org
ALMA - The International Loudspeaker Association
almainternational.org
Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)
CE.org
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
ansi.org
Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA)
caba.org
Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
auvsi.org
Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA)
cedia.net
Association of American Publishers
publishers.org
The DEG: Digital Entertainment Group
degonline.org
Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM)
aham.org
Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)
dlna.org
Association of Progressive Rental Organizations (APRO)
rtohq.org
Digital Media (DiMA)
digmedia.org
Audio Publishers Association
audiopub.org
Electro-Federation Canada (EFC)
electrofed.com
Auto Care Association
autocare.org
Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA)
ecianow.org
Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA)
blu-raydisc.com
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
eff.org
Broadband Forum
broadband-forum.org
Electronics Representatives Association International
era.org
Business Software Alliance (BSA)
bsa.org
Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA)
entmerch.org
Business Technology Association
bta.org
Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
theesa.com
Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM)
ctam.com
Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealers Association
(IOPFDA)
iopfda.org
Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB)
thecab.tv
Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)
idsa.org
CompTIA
Comptia.org
CE.ORG/I3
193
Digital America 2014 | TABLE OF CONTENTS
Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
ieee.org
National Venture Capital Association
nvca.org
Internet Alliance
internetalliance.my
North American Retail Dealers Association (NARDA)
narda.com
The Internet Association (The IA)
internetassociation.org
PCIA - The Wireless Infrastructure Association
pcia.com
International Auto Sound Challenge Association Inc. (IASCA)
iasca.com
Photo Marketing Association International (PMA)
pmai.org
International Society of Certified Electronics Technicians (ISCET)
iscet.org
Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB)
rab.com
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
itu.int
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
riaa.com
IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries
ipc.org
Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (SBCA)
sbca.com
JEDEC
jedec.org
Satellite Industry Association
sia.org
Mobile Enhancement Retailers Association (MERA)
merausa.org
SEMI
semi.org
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
mpaa.org
Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA)
semiconductors.org
Music Business Association
musicbiz.org
Small UAV Coalition
smalluavcoalition.org
Music Innovation Consumers (MIC)
Mic-coalition.org
Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA)
siia.net
International Music Products Association (NAMM)
namm.com
Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA)
sema.org
National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
nab.org
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
tiaonline.org
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
nam.org
Television Bureau of Advertising
tvb.org
National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
ncta.com
Toy Industry Association Inc.
toyassociation.org
National Electrical Manufacturers Association
nema.org
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL)
ul.com
National Electronics Service Dealers Association (NESDA)
nesda.com
WiFiForward Coalition
wififorward.org
National Retail Federation
nrf.com
CE.org/i3
194