|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Waiting for the digital mother lode
By Renay San Miguel
(CNN) -- You've just strolled into your favorite electronics store, hoping to add yet another digital toy to a home entertainment center that's looking so much like Mission Control you could be on NASA's preflight countdown list:
"Shuttle command?"
"Rescue?"
"Flight surgeon?"
"San Miguel's apartment?" Could you play your part in this scenario? Are you the Consumer Electronics Association's Customer of the Year? Don't think so? Maybe it's because you have bided your time whenever a new electronic device has hit the market, knowing that in just two or three years, the price may come down from Johnson Space Center levels to fit your budget. The CEA Market Research Department has released its prediction for sales of U.S. consumer electronics, and the estimates are encouraging for all those Digital "Daves" and "Debbies" who have been drooling over a TiVo or a digital TV or a computer. The CEA estimates that total factory sales of consumer electronics will hit $95 billion by the end of the year. That includes a Christmas shopping season where digital goods are expected to be one of the few bright spots for an ailing economy. The relentless march of technology usually means that the components that go into electronic devices get cheaper for the manufacturers every year. If those manufacturers are smart, they will pass those savings along to customers while waiting for the next generation of the same device to come along, which they will sell at higher prices. That was the case for computers starting in the mid-'90s as computers began to deliver more power for the price. If a shopper was patient, he or she could buy a PC with the latest Pentium microprocessor for about $1,200. But Intel's next-generation Pentium's were waiting in the wings for computer companies, and the pricing cycle could start again. Click here for statistics on average pricing and estimates for consumer electronic products from the CEA's October report. I've added what the device cost when it first hit the market in 1998 or 1999. And yes, you may have seen a digital TV that was more expensive, or a DVD player that was selling for $60 when you were last casing your neighborhood electronics store. As I said, these are average prices. Anne-Taylor Griffith of the CEA said the prices are based on what manufacturers sell to dealers such as Best Buy or Circuit City. It's then up to the dealer to make discounts or bundle the goods with other products, such as a computer/printer/scanner package. If you still have an issue with these estimates after all that, take it up with the CEA. I'm busy trying to help a space shuttle land.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
