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$113.5 billion worth of electronics sold in 2004
ravy writes "Americans bought $113.5 billion worth of electronics in 2004 and by 2005 the number will reach $127.5 billion. Digital television sets, MP3 players and flash memory cards were the best-sellers percentagewise, while PCs and cell phones enjoyed more steady growth in terms of sales. Google Zeitgeist also lists ipod, digital camera and mp3 as the most popular consumer electronics queries for the year past."
The calculator on my desk was purchased in 1972. The PC I'm writing this on was bought in 1999. Both are expected to last me for many more years to come. My fear is that the $113.5b figure in the article is mostly the result of people burning money for no reason.
MP3s are consumer electronics now? Does that mean PDFs are too? And maybe DOCs? lol.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
I first looked at the headline without my glasses and read:
$113.5 billion worth of elections sold in 2004
I thought to myself, "Well, that explains that!"
So, out of that revenue, how much goes to the engineers? Betcha it's not that much. Makes me wonder why anyone in their right minds would want to go into EE these days?
It's good to see this type of trend in the tech market. Slow and steady is the way I would like to see it go, because sharp hills are almost always followed by sharp valleys. And I would certainly hate to see what few jobs that are opening up all be gone within two years time......again.
Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try.
Maybe to people higher up the distribution chain, including the manufacturer? Those chips may have cost $0.02 to produce but you conveniently forget that the first chip cost several orders of magnitude more than that to make. You didn't think that fabrication plants grew on trees, did you?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
This talks about sales in the US. How much did other countries spend?
Agile Artisans
Maybe it went back into R&D to make it cheaper down the line?
Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try.
And here is yahoo's list http://tools.search.yahoo.com/top2004/
The important thing is not to stop questioning --Albert Einstein.
It's no suprise, with the cost a an HDTV you don't need to buy to many of them to put them at the top of the list. Their's nothing unusual about HDTV, just an increase in resolution and an excuse to get a step change in consumer cost that will never come down.
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
If you don't like, buy cheaper stuff. PC stuff is pretty damn cheap compared to what it used to be 15 years ago.
How much did they throw into landfills?
Seems like the americans will soon enough be interested by electronic junk, then porn ($57.0 billion world-wide - $12.0 billion US). Ah well,
Sure XBOX is great for average Joe - he can't screw anything up, but he can't do much either with it's clunky controller.
So instead of one universal programmable, extensible machine, sometimes refferes as PC he has: XBOX, DVD player that he had before xbox came out, TV set, maybe even an old VCR, calculator and tons of junk such as 300Kpixel camera.
Now I see two trends:
Every new product makes some other obsolete, so in fact they don't sell something revolutionary, something really creatively new, they just sell you an upgrade, telling that you should throw away your previous version of the tool.
Look at this:
VINYL - Tape - CD-ROM - mp3 - ?
I think in many cases vinyl gave sufficent quality, perhaps even higher that that of many mp3s, that's why many DJ still use it.
Also the TV sets seem to be going in circles:
CRT - LCD - PLASMA - OLED - CRT on Silicon
Don't be fooled by marketing bastards, buy things that you really need and never overspend.
I don't think there's a viable alternative to this consumerism so the only thing we can do is to be wise about it.
See, the problem with that, is that do you really want to work in factories, and also, they provide damn cheap labour, 14 cents a week in some cases. Now, still want to stop China production lines?? Some people want to stop it, but most just want to buy their stuff for cheaper. And here is a big plus for you, you can waste your insignificant life on something else then building stuff.
Keeping the prices up helps keep the status up. It would be harder for them to create an iPod craze if the iPods were only $10 and everyone could afford one.
----- Vegans don't send SPAM.
How much longer until we have nationwide wireless internet access?
I am not talking about "Wow, my cell phone can view lynx web pages" but rather portable computing with a dedicated hookup to the net 24 hours a day everywhere you go. And no, pointing to hobbling along with a GPRS enabled palm and a cell phone plan is not what I am asking.
Perhaps we as humans NEED to disconnect from the net completely every so often. I sure as heck dont want to though. I go to the gym, go to work, forced to go shopping with wifey, have to see family etc. I want a pair of glasses hooked up to some unit about the size of a cigarette box that will allow me to get a netfeed, highspeed, anywhere. Or, barring that, cybernetic implants in the ol' eye to display them woulnd't be that bad (barring popups, or attacks by hackers).
Yeah, I am an anime junkie but I want the world promised to us by Lain. Its just - I have gotten so used to having any information available at a whim, that to be disconnected whenever I leave the confines of a computer room is kinda.. sad. And that is kinda sad I know, but its the way I am - I cant be the only one.
How much longer do I have to wait? Anyone? Bueler?
There are some interesting changes that have taken place this year alone and should effect next year's o so bloated number
Flat panel monitors are now affordable. Just last week I noticed a 17 inch had fallen into the 200$ mark. This was pretty much the selling point for me and I suspect many others.
The FCC has released a huge list of mandates for DTV conversion. So unless nothing changes we should see more full power DTV stations by July and then the last mile is July 2006. With that there is a slew of tuners to purchase, infrastructure upgrades and some even more expensive equipment to purchase by the broadcasters themselves. (Alone I've had various quotes for around 20k just for DTV guide data insertion).
So the television industry itself should provide a significant over all increase on the consumer and provider level.
I would be interested to know what other industries have seen some fairly signficant change and what cost expenditures are expected.
"You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." -- Yogi Berra
The problem is so will the US. While I don't agree with China's policies, I have to hand it to them, they are smart. They are akin to a drug dealer in a lot of ways, give the products real cheap, then get the US hooked on them so they will keep on coming back for more. They know how to play on the greed of the US and they are integrating themselves into the economy almost to the point where we would be in a shock if we were to try to get rid of them.
This is a country that as little as 6 years ago said war with the US is inevitable. They are spending vasts sums of money to modernize their military, and may very well get the EU to destroy the ban on selling them weapons.
Bush's election is the best thing that ever could have happened to the Chinese. They can talk all they want about trade reform and IP laws, but because they realize that if they stop buying US bonds, the US economy is fucked, and use that to their every advantage. I know Dick Cheney likes to pretend that deficits don't matter, but maybe I'm just old fashioned when I think that letting the largest communist country on earth make us their bitch ISN'T such a bright idea......
Maybe the US should take a step back and think about the costs and benefits of our trade realationship with China.
Monstar L
Crap? Are you saying that Ipod. Apple computers and Dell laptops are crap? It may suprise you, but most of them are made in China.
Here is a list of companies of companies that manufacture stuff for Apple. For example new Ipod shuffle is made by Asus. Others are also Taiwanese companies that have a lot of production in China.
Of course, also over the half of motherboards and graphic cards are made in China.
wonder why...
The article doesn't say if this is worldwide or the US, but given that it's about $378 per person if it's the US, I could see that being the case.
I'd be interested in seeing comparitive numbers with Japan, who are some serious gadget lovers.
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
Many automobile parts are built to fall apart with time and use. (about the time the warranty expires.) I suspect certain components of a 1999 PC will fail within a couple of years, and as time goes by it will become increasing difficult and/or expensive to upgrade. Industry maximizes its profits, and frivolous consumption is really a secondary problem.
And here the US DOJ and friends are all for crippling our Electronic gadgets on behalf of the RIAA and MPAA's requests, citing piracy is ruining the economy.... I think they better focus on what is really fueling the economy. Movie and music sales are peanuts when it comes to the tech industry.
Nothing is stopping you from doing that. Why dont you put youre money where your huge arrogant gob is?
What was your point again? Oh wait you dont have one.
Arrogant nationlistic prick.
Don't normally reply to AC's, but I can't resist this one... I can proudly say that I don't shop at Walmart. I look at labels and see where things are made before I nonchalantly purchase it because it is cheap. I'd gladly pay a premium for something made in Canada (or the States). Why do people get so up in arms about child labour and sweatshops in Indonesia, Phillipines, yet say nothing about the slave labour in China?
Am I a nationalistic prick because I refuse to support companies that manufacture in slave labour countries only to make more profit?
Is that a real poncho? I mean, is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
while the chip it's self was about $0.02 to produce,
Take a course in economics. Production cost is only a very small fraction of the total cost of the chip. You still have the billion dollars in investment it takes to buld the fab plant, the immense R&D costs for the physics behand these things, the costs for sales, marketing, advertising, distribution, administrative costs to run the company and yes dare I say it PROFIT!!! for the stockholders who have sunk their hard-earned 401K money into the company.
See, the problem with that, is that do you really want to work in factories, and also, they provide damn cheap labour, 14 cents a week in some cases. Now, still want to stop China production lines??
I don't want to work in a factory, but I'm sure there are many unemployed people who would. Besides, it's really no worse than working at McDonalds, Walmart, et al for minimum wage. The more things are made in China by slave labour, these are the only jobs that lower class citizens will be able to get. The very same people who used to work menial jobs in factories. I'd rather poor people work in factories than sit on welfare or pogey. I can't believe what I'm reading - people have no problem with slave labour in China, as long as their materialistic lifestyles can be maintained as cheaply as possible.
Is that a real poncho? I mean, is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
A decrease in production costs in a product rarely results in the decrease in retail price. Or if anything, a $10 decrease in production cost will result in maybe a $1 retail price cost. The retail price will always be finagled to what the public will pay for a product, relatively independent of the production cost of the item. Cutting costs will mainly result in a higher profit margin for the company.
So, out of all the revenue of the Health Care industry, how much goes to the guy who cleans bed pans? Betcha it's not that much. Makes me wonder why anyone in their right minds would want to go into Health Care these days.
A more interesting question might be if you restate as:
Industry I has revenue R. Select occupation O, in I, such that your individual share of R is maximized.
Now that I've written that, it simplifies again; Which occupation pays the best? Percentage of industry revenue is meaningless, for example:
The left-handed frobwitz Industry gives 100% of its revenue to the engineers. Each engineer made $0.
In real life, things get more complicated. Nobody (as far as I know) chooses a career based on what percentage of all available revenue they might earn.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Gunter Hefner, formerly Infineon's vice president of sales for memory products, is now US Inmate #98184-011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. Heinrich Florian, former vice president for sales marketing and logistics for memory products, is now US Inmate #98182-011.
Infineon had to pay $160 million in fines.
Samsung, Hynix, and Micron have also been implicated. The investigation continues.
The US GDP is about $10T:y; with increasing indebtedness and unbalanced trade, Americans probably spent over $11T in 2004. So even that big industry is only 1% of the American economy. Hell, even some single companies, like IBM, Microsoft, GM and Exxon rake in close to $115B every year, though some of that is "electronics", and maybe half is foreign sales. That number is actually surprisingly low: only about $375:American, while the average salary is about $35K; again, less than 1%, especially considering debt. The real story is perhaps how much can be bought for little money. We seem to be much more than 1% surrounded by all this electronic swag.
--
make install -not war
So-called slave labor in china actually improves the quality of life for chinese, and when enough of them have been industrialized, they can unite and strike just as we did here in the U.S., provided their government allows them to. It's a phase all nations go through when they join the industrial world (remember that most people in china are basically peasants.) But, it remains that even with what little they do pay, they provide benefit enough to do so. Why do you think the maquiladoras in south america have no trouble finding employees to work for a buck a day? Because it's actually a good deal for the people who work there. The REAL problem with industrialization of undeveloped countries is that they are generally so eager to get the companies in that they do not require them to take measures to prevent ecological impact.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Yes it does matter if you are selling electronics! The Chinees and Indien market for example, with over 2 bilion people together, is growing rapidly. If your sales is only a part of the 113B in the US, you are missing out big time....
Something does not compute.
You guys don't get it.
If one is manufacturing wicker baskets, T-shirts, or tennis shoes, by hand, then the cost of labor is a significant percentage of total cost.
Make that wicker basket by machine, and labor costs go way down. Productivity goes up.
Near-slave labor does not provide the cheap goods that are sold to us. Real and true slave labor would not provide enough cost savings either.
The labor costs are not a signigficant part of a Dell Laptop.
The real cost is paid by the tax-payers of the country of manufacture.
The Chinese, Korean, Tiwanese, Japanese, etc, peasant is paying for your fun stuff, with their taxes.
The example of DRAM is a good one. A recent headline reported that a major manufacturer of DRAM in Japan was going to pay a $100megabuck fine for "dumping". Selling in the US at below the cost of manufacture.
That Dell Laptop that costs a so unbelievably small amount of money to you, actually cost more to manufacture than it was sold for. Same with cell-phones and all the electronic fluff.
The law of comparative advantages: Its a win-win stuation. The real money to be done by the US is not in the production of the Gadgets themselves, but on the service surrounding those items. The reason so many people can afford those elecronic gadgetsis because they're so cheap in the first place. China needs the US as much as the US needs China, and same applies for the EU, as there are trade agreements, there is no reason why China should no be an american and European ally. And the communist idealism in China is quickly fading away, i doubt anyone will still consider China as a communist country in 10 years time.
Maybe your paranoia is misplaced?
Mp3 players to listen to Ashlee Simpson. HDTV to watch Survivor. Digital Cameras to take more bad pictures than you did with film. Cell phones to talk on while driving so you crash. Ring tones for some unknown reason. It just seems like there is no real progress here, only just more junk.
Vote Quimby!
The vast amount of electronic junk taking up landfill is a problem that we should take at least some responsibility for.
Allow me to suggest a project to build biodegradable computers. Aside from those two words, I don't have any idea as to how to do it. But if Man can put and man on the moon or create an open-source alternative to Microsoft from the mud up, we can face the challenge of building a biodegradable computer.
The first hurdle is the massive lack of imagination needed to find currently productive uses for discarded technology. A recycling of computer parts and components. I do a few hours of recycling at the local PC community recycling center (FreeGeek in Portland, Oregon) in exchange for parts cut of motherboards and broken stereo circuit boards headed for landfill. Connectors, Flash BIOS chips from sockets, power chips and capacitors, that sort of stuff that can be reused in different electronic designs at a tiny fraction of the cost of buying new individual components from catalogs.
Another source of inspiration would be nature. For instance, the electric eel fish that stuns and kills its prey by delivering an electric charge of several hundred volts to it underwater. Fish are certainly biodegradable after a few days. Phew!!
Or consider the human brain. Billions of very low speed biochemical electronic connections in a massively parallel system. Again fully biodegradable.
Anyway, I'm rambling on a dreary Sunday morning surrounded by 4mm of ice on every street and surface for 50 km.
Aside from providing cheap crappy merchandise and stealing our jobs?
You mean provide cheap labor for low value added jobs, allowing the US workforce to leverage those products focus on higher margin activities.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
Still, don't you honestly think the profit margin for most items sold nowadays is too high? I'm not affirming it is -- I would actually like to see evidence to support what you say (an actual report on how much it cost to fund the various phases that led to the availability of the final product), otherwise I can only take it as a mere assumption. I'm not demanding this kind of data from you, of course, nor am I seeking confrontation. I just think the GP post has some reason in what it says, and that you're trying to dismiss it with an argument that doesn't look too solid to me.
Score: i, Imaginary
When you look at the DMCA as a tool by which the "media sector" is trying to micro-regulate the "tech sector" for the sake of controlling revenue streams - this statistic alone basically shows why the DMCA is doomed along with all the industries that rely on it. I say a clash of the titans is comming of the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time.
I would actually like to see evidence to support what you say (an actual report on how much it cost to fund the various phases that led to the availability of the final product), otherwise I can only take it as a mere assumption.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires that every company that issues stock publish exactly this data in an annual report. These reports and data from them are avaiable from company web sites, government sites and various financial data sites.
It is not an assumption. The data is freely available in massive amounts for just about every company of significant size.
You need to improve your knowledge of how the economy and companies work. Get to a library.
We spent $65 billion on the war in Iraq! I'd rather have bought myself another computer...