Tech spending projected at more than $1 trillion in 2012

Smartphones and tablet computers will help push worldwide consumer electronics spending to more than US$1 trillion this year though growth is sluggish compared to last year, according to industry analysts.

“Most product categories are slowing down or going into contraction,” Steve Bambridge, global business director for GfK Boutique Research said ahead of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

“Really there are two main exceptions: tablets and smartphones,” Bambridge said at a press conference before the official opening of the gadget extravaganza.

GfK and CES back the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) forecast that global spending on technology products will grow five percent in 2012 to US$1.04-trillion, compared to eight percent growth last year and US$993-billion in sales.

GfK and CEA said they expect smartphone sales to grow 22 percent this year, compared to 59 percent last year; while overall tablet sales are expected to double to more than 100-million this year.

As demand weakens in the United States, and Western Europe grapples with an economic crisis and wobbly euro, emerging markets such as Brazil, China and India are expected to increase their share of spending on consumer electronics.

GfK and CEA said they anticipate smartphone sales will grow by 22 percent this year, compared to 59 percent last year.

Emerging economies are expected to account for 46 percent of global tech sales revenue in 2012, up from 37 percent in 2008, while developed countries will see their share fall to 54 percent from 63 percent over the same period.

CEA chief economist Shawn Dubravac said more than 20 000 new products are likely to launch at CES, which brings together more than 2 700 exhibitors from around the world.

Last year, more than 100 tablet computers alone were unveiled at CES as rival manufacturers sought to capture the magic of Apple’s hot-selling iPad.

Dubravac said he expects to see about 50 new tablets this year and a plethora of snazzy smartphones which he described as “more like full-fledged computers.”

Also tipped to be a hot product category at CES this year is the sleek, lightweight laptop computer known as the “ultrabook,” DuBravac said.

He said he expected to see between 30 and 50 ultrabooks launched as computer makers again seek to make up ground on Apple and its popular MacBook Air.

Getting a headstart on the competition, Taiwan’s Acer on Sunday took the wraps off what it said was the world’s thinnest laptop computer, the Acer Aspire 5, which has a 13.3-inch (34-centimeter) screen and is 0.59 inches (15 millimeters) at its thickest point. It weighs less than three pounds (1.35 kilograms).

Desktop personal computers on the other hand are a category which is “in decline if not completely dead,” said CEA director of industry analysis Steve Koenig.

Television sales, meanwhile, are expected to be flat with whatever growth there is coming from emerging markets.

DuBravac said he expects to see more televisions capable of connecting to the internet as the convergence of the Web and the tv set “evolves quite rapidly.”

DuBravac said 12 percent of the tvs sold in the United States in 2010 were Internet-enabled, but nearly half of all televisions shipping in the US in 2012 will be able to tap into the Web.

He said he expected more products to incorporate gesture or voice control — features of Microsoft’s Kinect game console or Apple’s iPhone 4S voice assistant Siri — providing a “much more natural experience for many users.”

This may also provide hope for anyone who’s ever faced the bewildering array of buttons on a television remote control.

“I think 2012 will be the year of the interface,” DuBravac said, with an emphasis on moving from “complexity to simplicity.” –AFP