You might wonder whether electronics manufacturers and retailers see the world through rose-colored 3-D glasses. But the industry’s largest trade group says that retailers expect consumers to spend a record $186.4 billion in 2011 for high-definition TVs, portable devices and other electronic gadgets.
The forecast, from the Consumer Electronics Association, follows a turnaround year when sales from manufacturers to retailers rose 6% to $180 billion and beat expectations. In 2009, retail sales fell 6%.
“That’s a huge swing,” CEA spokesman Jim Barry said at the group’s annual show in Las Vegas where manufacturers introduce products they plan to sell this year. “We have innovative technologies. Tablet computers, e-readers and smartphones are selling like hot cakes.”
The challenge to the industry, he adds, is to continue adding features amid fierce price competition, although “that’s great for the consumer.”
Also at the International Consumer Electronics Show:
*Video games are headliners again for the first time since 1995, when gamemakers created their own show: the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
This year, CES attendees lined up at Sony’s PlayStation 3 booth to don 3-D glasses and use a plastic machine gun to shoot bad guys in the upcoming video game Killzone 3. And they gathered around Microsoft’s honeycomb-like Kinect demonstration setups to try games for the new full-body tracking sensor that was a Christmas hit.
In private meetings, Nintendo showed off the upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld that’s due to be released later this year.
“With all of the motion sensor technology, as well as the 3DS, you’re going to have a very strong console market,” says Tony Bartel, president of retail chain GameStop. In addition, he says, mobile and online gaming will “continue to explode.”
*Social networks and online apps will become key marketing platforms to turn viewers onto TV shows and movies.
Bonnie Arnold, who produced the animated film How to Train Your Dragon,…