CES Reflections: The Rise of Thin Tech

Now that CES 2017 is behind us, I thought I'd share some thoughts about what we saw at the world's biggest and craziest tech show and how Kado fits into the global tech scene. 

This year featured more than 20,000 new products. There were some truly incredible innovations, such as Razor's triple screen laptop, to the downright odd such as...well we don't want to upset anyone, but suffice it to say that not everything we own needs to be 'smart'.

Many of the innovations unveiled at the show were of course designed to solve a problem or to make our lives easier. However, we can divide gadgets into two categories: those that solve a common, known pain point and those that solve an issue that we didn't even know existed. While we loved Razor's triple screen laptop, it doesn’t solve a problem that most people have – it’s a beautiful but really niche device.

On the other hand, Kado's ultra thin chargers fall firmly into the first, more practical category. We all deal with the daily challenge of keeping our power-hungry smartphones and other devices charged, but most of us probably don’t give too much thought to our chargers because – well, we've just gotten used to them. Even though they are bulky and annoying to schlep around, we just assume they are the best we can do. Many manufacturers also haven't put much thought into chargers, and they are often considered an afterthought.

Until now, chargers haven't kept pace with the industry-wide trend towards making devices thinner. Apple's iPhone became 25% thinner in just three years between the iPhone 4 and 7, and it isn't the thinnest smartphone by any means. And of course, LG's wallpaper-thin TV unveiled at CES had jaws dropping with its unbelievable 2.56 mm thinness. 

Kado's technology has finally brought wall charging up to speed, to match our connected mobile lifestyles. Our phones are thin and our chargers should be too. But it isn't enough to just be thin – tech must be as durable, powerful and useful as traditional, thicker devices. The industry’s first thin laptops were thin but weren't able to keep up with heavy tasks. But without a doubt, today's ultrabooks are thin, light and up to just about any task you throw at them.

Now, with Kado, both laptops and mobile devices have chargers that match their thinness. And the response at CES to our chargers was incredible. People were so positive that our inner skeptic started to become suspicious, but as literally hundreds of journalists, techies and engineers from all over the world checked out Kado's chargers and loved them - it became clear that this wasn’t just another gadget. Thin chargers are really solving a common pain. It’s a wonderful feeling to get that kind of validation.

We're excited about bringing Kado to market and plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign this Spring. We look forward to updating you on our journey. 

Also, if you’re attending Mobile World Congress, we’d love to meet you at our booth - Hall 8.0 Stand 8.0J25.