The gadgets we'll be buying this Christmas – LCD TVs, Camcorders and Netbooks
Ok, so the recession might not officially be over, but even the most miserable of British papers are now noting not just green shoots but proper beanstalks too. And with people feeling a tad more confident about their financial future that means it is time once again to splurge on consumer electronics goods.
But what are we going to be spending our money on this Christmas? Futuresource Consulting, which conducts regular research into our gadget buying habits, is predicting a bonanza for flat screen TV manufacturers and good news for Netbook companies too.
Here is the company’s findings
Flat Panel TVs
The UK is apparently the biggest market for flats screen TVs in Europe and Futuresource thinks it will stay that way with demand for the sets fuelled by the World cup next year, the Olympics in 2012 and the digital switch off. LCD will continue to outpunch Plasma and take up to 90% of the market, with many of the new sets now ending up in bedrooms and studies.
Blu-ray Players
The Blu-ray market is apparently maturing in the UK with sales of standalone players topping 250k last year. Futuresource anticipates the UK market will grow to around 700k units during this calendar year, with most consumers continuing to opt for a standalone player rather than invest in a Blu-ray Home-Theatre-in-a-Box system or a Blu-ray Disc recorder.
Pocket Video Cameras
Futuresource thinks that after several stagnant years the camcorder market will be back with a bang with younger, IT-savvy ‘YouTube generation’ types snapping up models like the Flip. However Future source warns that thee cameras ‘are exploiting a window of opportunity while mobile phones still need to catch up in terms of offering improved video capture, 3 and 3.5G connectivity direct to websites such as YouTube and Flickr, improved battery life and embedded/bundled storage capacities exceeding 1GB.’
Netbooks
Futuresource is expecting a huge growth in sales of netbooks this year with 2.5 million units sold in the UK, which represents a year-on-year growth of more than 70%. According to Futuresource a ‘large swathe of the market being attracted by newer, cheaper netbooks offering increased functionality.’
