CEA: Economy down, TV sales up

Sales in a couple of key gadget categories will rise despite the economic downturn, the Consumer Electronics Association predicted Tuesday--and no, CEA wasn't talking about calculators and sawed-off shotguns.

Perhaps Pioneer's Elite Kuro PRO-111FD could help ease the pain of our flagging portfolios.

(Credit: CNET Networks )

During an industry Webcast titled "Economy in crisis: How we got here, where do we go from here and what does it mean for consumer electronics and your business," the CEA said flat-panel TVs and gaming hardware should do well during the upcoming holiday season even as consumers rein in their dollars amid the current financial uncertainty.

Maybe a shiny new monitor could help take our worried minds off terms like "credit default swap." Or more possibly, the CEA suggested, many people will be waiting out the crisis at home rather than traveling or spending money on nights out.

"Consumer electronics is holding up well," said CEA analyst Sean DuBravac, who delivered the CEA's preliminary holiday projections in terms of units, as opposed to revenues. "We're pretty confident that technology will outperform overall retail."

Disclaimer: We at Crave did not watch the Webcast, as (excuse No. 1) former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stopped by CNET's San Francisco headquarters Tuesday to talk technology, politics, and Silicon Valley. (Watch for the video Wednesday morning.) But we were most interested in the Webcast results as reported by AFP and Beta News.

A few of CEA's more eye-catching points, according to those two sources:

• Holiday sales will likely increase 4.7 percent for flat-panel TVs and other A/V equipment, and 3.5 percent for gaming hardware.

• Sales of game machines will likely reach 17.1 million units during the holidays. Sales of consoles will go down, but sales of less costly portable game machines will go up.

• While consumers are displaying caution when it comes to "discretionary spending," many consumers don't necessarily see money spent on gadgets as falling under the "discretionary" rubric.

• Consumers are spending less on buying new cars, citing rising fuel prices as one big reason why.