January 7th, 2008
Consumer electronics sales to grow 6.1% in 2008
The consumer electronics industry is projected to post a healthy 6.1% increase in revenues in 2008, according to Consumer Electronics Association. Overall shipment revenues are forecast to top $171 bln in 2008, yielding a growth rate of 6.1%. CEA also released its estimate of final shipment revenues for 2007, which totaled $161 bln, up 8.2% over 2006. TV displays continue to be the largest contributor to the CE industry bottom line, representing roughly 16% of overall CE shipment dollars. Shipments of displays are expected to grow 13% to more than $29 bln. Sales of next generation DVD players will take off in 2008, as prices decline and consumers continue to seek out high quality home theater products. CEA forecasts unit shipments will grow 173% to 2.8 mln. The gaming category continues to set records in terms of revenue. Fueled by the availability of 3 next generation consoles, gaming hardware alone is estimated to have grown 50% to $6.6 bln in 2008. Riding the wave of several successful title launches, gaming software is expected to drive growth in 2008. CEA expects software sales to grow 26% to $11.5 bln in 2008. Total shipment revenues in the mobile video and navigation category will nearly double in 2008 to more than $3.1 bln thanks to sky-rocketing sales of portable navigation devices (PNDs). CEA expects rapid revenue growth of over 74% for devices that include traffic and data functionality.
