“As attention turns to the holiday season, consumer electronics and digital entertainment products again rise to the top of must-have items on any savvy gift list,” Antony Bruno reports for Billboard.
“Consumer spending on electronics gifts is expected to reach US$21 billion during the holiday-spending spree, a 21 percent jump from the $17 billion spent on consumer electronics last holiday season, according to the Consumer Electronics Association,” Bruno reports. “For the second year in a row, MP3 players topped the consumer electronic wish list for gifts among both adults and teens, according to a CEA poll.”
“Whether it’s the new line of Nanos, the new-and-improved video iPod or the new iTunes Movie service, Apple’s digital entertainment products break new ground each year,” Bruno reports. “Apple’s best-selling Nano line has undergone a makeover, featuring a thinner design, better display and battery life, and a range of five colors available in 2GB ($150), 4GB ($200) and 8GB ($250). Additionally, the revamped video iPod holds a whopping 80GB of capacity, good for 20,000 songs, 25,000 photos or 100 hours of video, and features a brighter screen that now supports casual games downloaded from iTunes. And the iPod Shuffle has been downsized.”
Bruno reports, “But this year all eyes are on whether Apple’s Midas touch will extend to downloading movies to the iPod as well. The company has begun selling full-length movies from Disney divisions Pixar, Touchstone and Miramax for $10 a pop.”
Bruno covers such products as Nintendo’s Wiii, Sony’s PlayStation 3, and more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Retailer survey forecasts Apple’s iPod nano as best-selling Item for Christmas 2006 – November 11, 2006
Apple set for $7 billion Christmas – November 10, 2006
Last Boxing Day was the peak for the number of songs and movies downloaded from the iTMS until that point.
I hope Apple gives us a whole lot more movie studios to download this Boxing Day, and that their servers can handle the massive number of extra users and larger file sizes.
The day after the iTV goes on sale in January is going to be another big test for their servers!