The MP3 market is slowing down, while new products such as MP4 and PMP are winning favor and gaining more market shares. They both have the potential for continuous growth. In the first half of 2007, PMP sales were up 151% year-on- year. In the mobile storage market, two trends have emerged. The first trend is towards large, secure and quick storage units, while the other units trend towards small, light and low-power consumption. As people download more often and have a greater need for storage, large capacity, secure and fast storage equipment has become a new favorite in the mobile storage market. However, price is still a major bottleneck affecting the penetration of mobile storage products. Most mobile storage products are priced slightly above what ordinary consumers can afford.
In the first half of 2007, accelerating digital imaging technology renewal caused an industrial revolution. Sensitive devices matured, digital imaging technical standards were more advanced, while market competition was more rational. The whole digital imaging industry developed in a sustainable manner. With more people-oriented changes put in place, the whole industry carried forward the development philosophy of using science and technology to serve mankind, and aimed at higher goals.
In the first half of 2007, China's consumer electronics industry maintained a fast growth momentum. This was partly due to the continuous growth of domestic demand and partly due to an increase of export products, of which new consumer electronics products grow faster. In the first half of 2007, foreign brands continued to make big price cuts. This greatly increased their sales. Domestic brands had no industry chain advantages. Under the pressure of rising panel prices at the upstream and insufficient supplies, their sales did not grow much. On the whole, flat panel TV sales continued to rise. But, the pattern of competition changed greatly. Domestic brands saw a drop in their collective market shares, while foreign brands increased their market shares and were in a strong position. 40-inch or larger TV products saw their percentages rise and were favored in the market.
Product renewal is accelerating. The price of mainstream products continues to drop, and home consumption will become a new growth point in the future. Digital camera and digital video camera users are no longer just photography fans or professionals. There are now more and more family users. Consequently, personalized product design will be a development trend: ease- to-use, small size, easy portability, more personalized optical anti-shake, wide angle lens and improved imaging quality. Products with over 3 million pixels have become mainstream in the market. Competition in the market is intense. And there is a notable trend of dropping the product price.
Industry Development Trend
As the Internet becomes more widespread, integrated products and services have become a new proposition for consumer values. In the Internet age, the meaning of consumer electronic products has been greatly expanded and enriched. Home consumer electronics integration is a general trend. On the whole, the consumer electronics industry will have the following trends in the future:
- 3C integration is a major trend for electronics.
A logic trend is that consumer electronics products will adapt to 3C integration. From their own perspective, home appliances, communication and IT are developing towards 3C integration. Many new electronic products have emerged, such as TVs with Internet access, camera mobile phones, PDAs that can make calls, MP3s with a video function. New product renewal is faster, and a wide variety of products have emerged. Electronic products that achieve 3C integration are an overall trend.
- Consumer electronics have more personalized designs.
Intense market competition promotes manufacturers to continue to segment the consumer market. New technologies and new products that meet personalized demand have emerged. Big screen LCD TVs, MP3 products, large capacity and fast storage technologies, and hi-tech digital imaging products have more embodied the features of personalized design.
- Digital homes will become a future growth point for consumer electronics in China.
The "digital home" can be seen as a trend of the information industry towards consumerism. It is also a trend of digital and IT-based consumer electronics. It stresses the application of IT in home, and IT-based control. While digitizing home appliances, it also highly integrates other available digital consumer electronics. Many computers, communication equipment, audio and visual products, and home appliances can all identify each other and share resources, thus possessing highly digitalized and networked features.
In the past year or so, digital TV and broadband communication networks have developed very quickly, and more and more digital products enter the homes of ordinary families. The era of the digital home is gradually becoming a reality, offering a huge market for all kinds of consumer electronics.
