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In-Stat Finds Global Consumer Electronics Sales Defying Economic Cycles (28/3/2007)

A succession of attractive new products, along with falling prices and increased capabilities, has helped make the consumer electronics (CE) market seemingly impervious to economic ups and downs around the world, reports In-Stat. Strong CE sales are expected to continue for several years, with total shipments increasing from 2.1 billion units in 2006 to 3 billion units in 2010, the high-tech market research firm says.

"The combination of new, popular devices and consistently lower prices leads to increased consumer purchases," says Brian O'Rourke, In-Stat analyst. "Currently driving the market are devices such as digital televisions, DVD recorders, cellular phones and portable digital audio players (MP3)."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

-- In the next few years, blue laser players and recorders are expected to have a significant impact on the market.

-- Europe, Asia/Pacific and Rest of World regions will lead in annual growth rates through 2010.

-- The portable digital audio player will show significant worldwide growth of 41.8% annually, with the growth spread throughout all regions.

The research, "Consumer Electronics Rollup 2007: DTV and MP3 Drive Market, Blue Laser Devices on the Way" (#IN0703872ME), covers the worldwide market for 16 select advanced consumer devices, including some, such as PCs and mobile phones that, while not always considered consumer devices, represent a significant fraction of total consumer device sales. It provides detailed annual forecast breakdowns for all of these devices, broken down into five regions: North America, Europe, Japan, Asia/Pacific, and Rest of World (ROW). The history of these shipments back to 2004 is included, as well as analysis of the market for each device.

www.instat.com