Consumer Electronics

Consumer electronics is the name given for electronic equipment intended for everyday use for the consumer market. They are regularly used in communications, entertainment and business equipment.

Some examples of consumer electronics products are games consoles, televisions, personal computers, mobile phones, kitchen appliances, audio equipment, gps navigation, photography and video equipment. It is a massive global industry that the CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) estimates 2007 sales at 150 billion dollars. It is dominated by several Japanese, American and Korean companies e.g. Sony, LG, Samsung, Dell, Toshiba.

The market is driven by innovation and rapidly falling prices due to improvements in manufacturing processes and reduced production costs. Semiconductor components seem to keep up with Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years.

The trend in the marketplace is towards miniaturisation and convergence of several products, the mobile phone market is major exponent where you will find a combination of gadgets combined into one product. Whereas a few years ago you would have a separate product for your telephone, audio player, calculator, organiser and messaging you get this easily within one product and at a quarter of the size and price.

Since its beginnings in the 1970s the computer and video game industry has seen massive growth and is now worth USD$9.5 billion in the US in 2007 (ESA annual report). There is two clear distinctions in gaming, the games console and the PC based gamer, although many games are available across the board the major growth has been in the games console market where games are often aimed at small children through to adults. The games consoles themselves also offer other functions such as video and audio players and are replacing single units in many households.

Television technology has moved on in the last few years and the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) systems are gradually becoming obsolete and being replaced by low energy plasma or lcd models. These have many advantages offering high definition and sleeker more stylish displays. Video has moved into the DVD and now High Definition players with discs with more capacity enable the home cinema experience.

The role of the personal computer has grown as processing power has increased the depth of applications have also. The growth personal computers and the explosion of the internet has made the PC the essential equipment for every consumer. A basic knowledge of PC use has become the prerequisite for function in the 21st century. The internet has revolutionised the way we communicate making working and socialising possible throughout the world.

Many new products are previewed at many technology shows for example the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. As technology evolves we as consumers are more and more reliant on products that improve our lives by taking care of menial tasks. The impact on the environment is considerable as we rely more and more on electronics but many innovations in consumer electronics strive to improve products whilst reducing the carbon footprint.