Dave Horvath
6 Jan 2007 17:33
On the eve before the Computer Electronics Show, the Consumer Electronics Association stated that overall consumer electronics sales have jumped 13 percent in 2006 which could set the market up for a record $155 billion dollars. These figures record everything in the industry from iPods to mobile phones and everything in between.
Television sets are expected to continue to be the big sellers this year. With falling overall prices of both LCD and plasma displays, coupled with an estimated 19 million units of both displays shipped onto store shelves over the course of the year, expect $26 billion of the overall revenue to be taken up in this category.
The other electronic genre setting the market on its ear is that which includes the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Digital music players have all but replaced standard CD players as the mobile audio unit of choice and the market has reflected that well. Various MP3 player companies plan on bringing out units to grab their own market shares in this category and overall store shipments are expected to be in the range of 41 million units; up from 34 million units in 2006.
Next generation video game consoles, GPS units and personal computers will round up the rest of the big hitters this year. If the long lines prior to the launch of any of the video game systems are any indication of demand, its easy to see how this market will certainly sell well. Also, more and more vehicles are being outfitted with GPS units and PCs are expected to get faster and more appealing as Big Redmond begins to aggressively push its Vista product on the masses.
"Consumers started the year investing in innovative consumer electronics products and seemingly never stopped," said Thibodeaux of CEA. "With the 2007 forecast, we see the consumer love affair with technology continuing at a healthy clip."
Source:
Reuters