The CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) sees all sorts of surprising ways in which people are making a lot of money in the US electronics industry, and much of it is far from being high-tech.
Money is being made in the US consume electronics industry in all sorts of surprising ways.
One is the installation of home theatres. “A media room is expected in most US houses, and the installation cost can be anything between $10,000 and $250,000. People put in things like panelling and ticket booths and popcorn machines”, said John Reder, Texas Instruments’ worldwide strategy manager for DLP TV.
According to Sean Wargo, director of industry analysis at the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) the money spent on the custom installation of home entertainment last year was $3.5bn with the average installation costing $11,000.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. TI’s Reder points out that you can buy a DLP front projection TV for under $1,000, and display a very large picture on your garage wall in the evening.
“You can have a barbeque, have the kids over. That’s larger than the custom install market and could grow faster”, said Reder.
Another surprisingly fast-growing industry is the accessories market, things like Bluetooth headsets, antennas, mounts, brackets and cabling which amounted to a $5bn industry at wholesale prices in the US last year.
Hi-tec is not necessarily the best place to be. “AV receivers have better margins than flat panel displays”, said the CEA’s Wargo, but that doesn’t surprise Reder, “The price curve in the flat panel industry is very tough”, he said.
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