Credit crunch to drive home technology innovation

Quality and the ability to customise in demand as IT industry faces tough challenge in 2009

Written by Paul Allen, Computeractive

Consumers could benefit from the credit crunch as home technology vendors offer more value and greater quality in a bid to oustrip competitors.

Launching the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, LG's marketing director, Peter Reiner, said the worldwide economic slowdown would see consumers spend more time at home and insist on better value when deciding what to spend their money on.

"Consumers will stay home more in 2009 and they are going to want products that give great quality, are stylish, easy to use and provide the ability to customise."

Advertisement

LG announced a number of product launches for the coming year that it hopes will grab consumers' attention, including home network streaming products that can play high-definition movies over wireless networks, televisions with image processing technology that virtually eliminates picture blur and a wristwatch-style mobile phone.

LG has signed deals with Youtube and Yahoo that will give consumers the ability to access news, video and more direct to their TVs. The Network Entertainment Access system is part of a wider strategy to cut down on the amount of wiring consumers have to contend with in the living room.

LG's CEO, Michael Ahn, said this would enable the company to provide "the content that consumers crave".

Chief technology officer Dr Woo Park said: "We want to get rid of these ugly wires. Actually I don't mind them but my wife hates them."

LG will introduce support for the best-quality standard of high-definition video in its Netflix streaming product range without the need for compression, preserving ultimate picture quality.

Dr Park also demonstrated a mobile phone with two microphones that can cut the amount of background noise, leading to clearer calls.

Reader comments

More from Computeractive

News

The latest home computing news

Downloads

The best PC tools, applications and more

Reviews

Independent opinions on new hardware and software

Step-by-step guides

Easy-to-follow projects with pictures

PC Help

Solve PC problems with our Q&A

Videos

PC projects demonstrated and product reviews

Articles

An in-depth look at how to get the best from your PC

Magazine

What's coming up in Computeractive

Forums

Get help with your PC problems from our readers

Competitions

Your chance to win computing prizes

Shopping

Great deals on products, services and more

NEW! Computeractive CD Rom 11
All 26 issues of Computeractive from 2008 on one CD-Rom.

Ultimate Guide to Disc Burning
Everything you need to know about creating your own discs.

Create your own calendars softwareCreate your own Calendars
The fun and easy way to create your own calendars!

Computeractive - Issue 280Computeractive Back Issues
Missed an issue? Click here to find a back issue

Blogs

Windows Watch

Windows Watch

Keeping an eye on the latest XP and Vista news

F-Secure Backup update clearly shows protected files

I reviewed F-Secure Online backup about a month ago ( read it here ) and found it to be both effective and...

Download Junkie

Download Junkie

Your daily dose of download discussion

Disable spyware functionality within Windows with XP-AntiSpy

Whilst online our computers send information back and forth to software suppliers and may report anything regarding your Windows operating system....

Advertisement

Free email newsletters

Techno babble demystified...

[Display all definitions]

Or type in any computer-related word and click "Go"

Advertisement

Computeractive is not reponsible for content of Google adverts

Primary Navigation

© Incisive Media Ltd. 2009. Incisive Media Limited, Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RX, is a company registered in England and Wales with company registration number 04038503

Search computeractive.co.uk