Americans spend billions on gadgets

Las Vegas (NV) - Americans are continuing their gadget spending binge, according to a new survey by the Consumer Electronics Association. The Digital America 2007 survey says people snapped up $1200 dollars worth of electronic gadgets per household in 2006. That is an impressive 13% gain over 2005, but the association predicts that certain gadgets, like mp3 players, will experience a slowdown in the future.

In total Americans spent approximately $145 billion dollars in electronic. Digital television sets and cameras experiences the greatest gains and increased 23 million and 32 million units respectively. Sales of digital television sets surpassed analog sets for the first time last year, according to the CEO. DVD players, which are often purchased simultaneously along with televisions, sold 22 million units.

Unit-wise phones and pdas led the pack selling 125 million units and racking in $17 billion dollars in sales. Assorted phone batteries garnered $6 billion dollars.

MP3 players have been stellar performers in recent years and have gained more than 200 percent in sales, but the CEA says that growth will slow dramatically. The association predicts that 2007 MP3 player sales will clock in at single digits 5.5% because of increase competition from music-capable cell phones. Another factor in the slowdown is the prevalence of player ownership as many people already own one or two MP3 players.

You can read the entire Digital American 2007 survey here .