Standards: What Place Do They Serve in the Consumer Electronics MarketPlace? [Standards Corner]

As the IEEE Consumer Electronics Standards chair, I am often asked, “Why do we even need standards in the consumer electronics marketplace? Do consumer electronics (CE) companies need to be unique in their product offerings and thus be able to outshine their competitors?” The answer is yes and no. Companies want to distinguish themselves with their value add, whether this is a special look and feel of the product or a new twist on the product function. But they do not want to reinvent the wheel when it comes to common interfaces that their product would interact with other customers products in the total ecosystem.