LAS VEGAS -- Revenues from sales of consumer electronics are expected
to increase 9% during the upcoming holiday shopping season, show the
results of a new survey by the Consumer Electronics Association.
Predicted at the top of wish lists: MP3 players.
The survey is based on 1,000 randomly selected U.S. adults interviewed
by phone by CEA.
Based on the survey, CEA forecasts that overall holiday spending will
increase 14% per average household to $1,430, from $1,254 in 2004,
factoring in gifts, decorations, food, travel and other assorted
holiday expenses.
"Peace, happiness, health - and consumer electronics - are on the wish
lists of Americans this holiday season, according to our forecast
survey," CEA said. "Despite concern about the overall economy,
consumers intend to purchase, as well as hope to receive, a plethora of
consumer electronics gifts this holiday season. More, our survey
indicates that retailers and consumers alike will be humming a happy
tune entering the New Year, as results show the MP3 player is going to
be one of the hottest sellers."
The survey tracks CE devices consumers intend to give as gifts, as well
as those they hope to receive. The MP3 player topped both lists this
year displacing the digital camera at the top of the gift list and the
plasma TV at the top of the wish list from last year's survey. Consumer
interest in buying a portable MP3 player has increased eight points
from 2004, to 28%. Revenues from sales of MP3 players are up 105% so
far this year, according to CEA.
For the second year in a row, CEA also surveyed CEA|CNET Tech First
Panel participants for the holiday study in order to determine the
holiday gifting intentions of technology early adopters. The study was
administered via the Internet to an online sample of CNET users who
were screened as people who adopt consumer electronics products in the
early to mid-product life cycle stages.
The CEA|CNET Tech First Panel
sheds light on the thoughts, behaviors and desires of the first
consumers to buy technology products. Their interests and behaviors are
often precursors to future mass market trends. The MP3 player topped
their list for gift-giving, as well.
Fifty-seven percent said they are
likely to purchase an MP3 player this season to give as a gift. Other
top early adopter gift-giving items included a digital camera, internal
PC upgrade, video game system and home networking devices.
Following the MP3 player, the full wish list for the randomly selected
survey respondents included, in order of preference: plasma television,
digital camera, laptop PC, big screen TV, desktop PC, video game
system, high-definition television, DVD recorder and home theater
speakers or system.
The gift-giving list included: portable MP3 player,
digital camera, video game system, cordless phone, home DVD player,
portable headset CD, game peripherals, DVD recorder, cellphone and
laptop PC.
When adult consumers were asked what they wanted most, CE products
followed peace, happiness and good health; conversely, when asked what
their kids wanted most, respondents listed CE products first with video
games leading the inventory.
WASHINGTON -- The
National Association of Manufacturers praised this week's announcement by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative of a
formal request to China for more data on IP enforcement by the Chinese
government.
GUADALAJARA -- Solectron
Corp. today announced
an expansion of its Guadalajara facility, the company's
largest plant in the Americas. The new
capabilities include enclosures services and design
and engineering.
WOBURN, MA — Masstech EMS today announced a family of service offerings
designed to help customers comply with changing environmental
regulations. The firm's Lead Free
Conversion Program helps OEMs prepare for and
comply with the EU RoHS directive.
PALO ALTO, CA -- Agilent Technologies today announced that Tessolve Inc., an independent semiconductor-test
engineering service provider in Bangalore, India, has purchased the
first Agilent 93000 Pin Scale system sold in that country.
Tessolve is
using the system to test digital and mixed-signal devices for its major
integrated device manufacturers and fabless customers as well as for
emerging local customers in India.
The system was chosen for its ability to test ICs, SOCs and SIPs within bandwidths of 200 Mbps to 3.6 Gbps.
India has already become a world leader in
software services, and is poised to do the same in the semiconductor
industry. According to Bryan Wang, an analyst at In-Stat, India will
have the world's fastest-growing electronics industry over the next
several years, outpacing even China. The Indian electronics market,
worth $11.5 billion in 2004, will hit a compound annual growth rate of
23% to reach $40 billion by 2010, said Wang.
Many top
semiconductor companies including Intel, Texas Instruments, IBM,
Samsung, Freescale, Toshiba and Infineon, have design and manufacturing
centers in India, which presents a clear opportunity for Tessolve.
"We
opened our 50,000 sq. ft. chip testing center in Bangalore to put
an end to India's testing limitations for SOC designs coming out of
India," said Raja Manickam, chief executive of Tessolve. "Now,
with our purchase of the Agilent 93000, Tessolve is positioned to
become India's leading independent semiconductor test house. Eighty
percent of India's semiconductor design houses are already based in
Bangalore, and the Agilent Pin Scale test system allows us to offer
them a low-cost, scalable platform that can be employed from
characterization to high-volume manufacturing."
WESTFORD, MA. & WAKEFIELD, MA – PLM provider MatrixOne and RuleStream Corp., provider of rules-driven product management (RPM) solutions, have integrated the companies' flagship products as part of an ongoing implementation at The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W).
B&W, a subsidiary of McDermott International, provides products and services to the power generation industry. The integration of RPM, PLM and MCAD systems allows B&W to use existing knowledge to create and manage raw material items, and provides thousands of possible part/spec combinations.
"Leading manufacturers are already shortening engineering time through process improvement supported by new rules-driven software," said Marc Halpern, research director at industry analyst firm Gartner. "In the future, the integration between PDM and the rules engine will allow innovative new products to be designed with CAD models using PDM-controlled parts and items that are based on specifications and the context of use. This will streamline the generation of project proposals, make estimates of project costs more accurate and maximize part reuse."
Engineers will be able to review their custom engineering designs, incorporate engineering changes--even those with complicated design dependencies--and ensure up-to-date product information from their MatrixOne PLM system and SolidWorks MCAD models.