Returning from CES this year, I found myself reflecting on a question that popped up frequently in the comments on my coverage: How many of the showcased products from one of these shows actually stick around for the long haul? To answer that, I took a trip down memory lane to revisit products I featured from the show in 2015, the first CES I attended.
You can check it out in my latest video.
One standout from that year was the ODG consumer smart glasses, an ambitious attempt at wearable augmented reality. At the time, it was essentially an Android device that overlaid digital information onto the real world. My video featuring their booth drew significant attention, racking up 76,000 views, making it my most-watched video from the show. Yet, despite the buzz, the company collapsed just a few years later. By 2018, ODG was laying off employees and failing to pay others. While their patents found new homes, including with Facebook, the dream of widespread consumer AR was clearly ahead of its time.
Typo keyboards were another story of ambition meeting resistance. Designed to bring a BlackBerry-style typing experience to iPhones, Typo quickly landed in legal trouble. BlackBerry sued Typo and won, forcing Typo to shift focus to tablet keyboards. The product quality was decent—I still have some prototypes—but the company didn’t last much longer than the 2015 show.
CES 2015 also marked my first encounter with self-driving cars, courtesy of BMW. Their demo featured an autonomous vehicle navigating a short course, an exciting glimpse into the future. During a conversation with a BMW executive, I learned that while they had the technology ready, they were hesitant to release it broadly due to liability concerns. Tesla, however, wasn’t so cautious. Later that year, they introduced Autopilot, which leveraged similar technology but made it consumer-facing. Today, autonomous features are commonplace, a testament to how quickly innovation can leap forward once the groundwork is laid.
Razer’s Forge TV attempted to tap into the growing interest in Android gaming consoles that year. Despite their efforts, including acquiring Ouya’s assets, the device couldn’t compete with Nvidia’s more powerful Shield. The market for Android-based gaming consoles was short-lived, and the Forge TV joined a growing list of ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful projects.
Crowdfunding was a major theme that year, and I covered several products that were offered by platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Unfortunately, many of these projects never delivered. The Carbon Flyer, a carbon-fiber remote-controlled airplane, failed to reach most backers despite raising substantial funds. Similarly, the Zano drone became a cautionary tale after raising $3.4 million and delivering only a fraction of promised units. The fallout was significant enough to prompt an investigative report commissioned by Kickstarter. These experiences made me more cautious about covering crowdfunded products.
Not every project from CES 2015 faded into obscurity. The Virtuix Omni VR treadmill, showcased amid growing excitement for Oculus and HTC Vive, remains available today, albeit at a steep price of $3,500. The company found a niche market through VR gaming arenas, a clever pivot that has kept them in business for a decade.
Reflecting on that year, it’s clear that technological progress is as much about persistence as it is about innovation. While many products showcased at CES 2015 didn’t survive, the stories they left behind offer valuable lessons about ambition, timing, and adaptation. Revisiting these moments adds depth to the yearly spectacle of CES, reminding us that today’s cutting-edge ideas are often tomorrow’s memories.
