On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Walk around the halls of CES 2013 and you might fail to find one particular technology-- 3DTV. Has it been sidelined in favour of the new kids on the TV block, 4K and OLED? The answer might just be... yes.

The emphasis on alternative technologies makes sense. Since 3DTV failed to stop (or even simply slow down) the drop in global TV shipments and sales, vendors got to look for their next great hope.

According to NPD DisplaySearch 2012 TV shipments are down by -6% due to general tough economic conditions, with TV prices falling at "marginal rates," while 2013 shipments are expected to remain flat before entering a period of "gradual" growth as conditions improve and prices decline further.

The DisplaySearch graph (pictured) shows an interesting pattern-- TVs show decent growth during the 2008-2010 period (thanks to the HDTV boom) before declining sharply during 2011-2012. And even if 2013 sees a return to growth shipments will never reach 2010 levels, never mind pre-2007.

Another UK retailer enters administration in the first days of 2013-- entertainment chain HMV, following the refusal of suppliers to answer a request for £300 million in funding.

Deloitte (fresh from the Comet failure) takes over administration duties.

The retailer faces a potential banking agreement breach, and is in discussion with banks and key stakeholders. As a result HMV shares are out of the London Stock Exchange.

HMV stores will continue trading, even if over 4000 jobs are at risk should the retailer fail to find a buyer. The HMV Group also owns CD and DVD retailer Fopp and book seller Waterstones.

In an nasty twist of fate, current HMV CEO Trevor Moore used to lead the 1st high street casualty of 2013, photographic retailer Jesops, while non-executive director David Adams is the former Jessops chairman.

We all know the reasons for the failure of HMV's 230 outlets-- as retail consultancy Conlumino director Neil Saunders tells the Financial Times, “It has been a long time coming but everyone has known the writing was on the wall since the day someone first downloaded a digital song.”

Go HMV

Go HMV Calls in the Administrators (FT.com)

Go HMV Faces Losses, Critical Days

The YotaPhone might look like any other CES 2013 smartphone, but it might turn into something special-- turn it around and you will find 4.3-inch electronic paper display (EPD) on the back.

Designed to be always-on, the low power EPD shows anything from social media information and reminders to eBook files and images. An interesting application seen at CES is having EPD display a static map while the device is actually off.

Russian maker Yota promises it will soon release an SDK allowing developers to integrate dual-screen features into apps such as RSS feed readers.

Currently in prototype form, the YotaPhone has another interesting feature-- a gesture panel below the main display replacing regular Android on-screen buttons. Right-to-left swipes take the phone back to the home screen, a half-swipe replaces the back button and so on.

Other novel additions include a SIM tray and power button integrated into a single unit and a first consumer application of Gorilla Glass 3. Powering the device is a dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon S4 processor and 2GB RAM, with a modified Android 4.1 as OS.

Yota gives no release date for the YotaPhone, but we will check it out again soon enough at Mobile World Congress 2013.

Go YotaPhone

With Ultra HD (UHD, aka 4K) TV taking over the CES 2013 headlines it is about time potential customers get to see actual 4K content-- Eutelsat Communications launches the first dedicated UHD demo channel for Europe.

Available on the EUTELSAT 10A satellite, the channel transmits 3840 x 2160 content at 50fps encoded in MPEG-4 and transmitted at 40 Mbit/s.

Helping with transmissions is video compression solution provider ATEME.

“This new step towards 4K continues Eutelsat’s longstanding commitment to achieving new broadcast milestones that over the last 20 years have included digital TV, HDTV and 3D,” Eutelsat says. “Early and close collaboration between all players in the broadcast chain will be a key success factor for this new revolution."

The first set of UHD TVs should hit the market later this year-- even if by all accounts such sets are the definition of, well, pricey.

Go Eutelsat Launches Europe's First Dedicated UHD Channel