Internet-Connected Devices Top Holiday Shopping Lists

DALLAS: In the U.S., 3 million households are planning to purchase an Internet-connected TV during the 2010 holiday shopping season, the international market research firm Parks Associates reports.

Nearly 25 percent of U.S. broadband households already own at lease one Internet-connected TV device, and one-fourth of these households have watched a paid movie-on-demand at least once in the past month, according to Parks Associates’ Connected CE Tracker. Analysts at Parks predict connected consumer-electronics (CE) devices will be top sellers for the holiday shopping system.

"Only 38 percent of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase a CE device this year, but it’s the connected CE and smartphones that will be the most popular items," said Kurt Scherf, the VP and principal analyst at Parks Associates. "Connected devices are the future of content consumption and entertainment in the living room as they capture the broader trends of integration among different silos in consumers’ lives. We will continue to follow their sales through 2011 with Connected CE Tracker."

Connected CE devices cover game consoles, Blu-ray players, tablet computers and digital video players. By the end of 2010, more than 40 million U.S. consumers will have a broadband-connected game console, more than 8 million will have a PC-to-TV connection, more than 5 million will have a connected Blu-ray player, and 4 million-plus will have a networked digital video player.

"Manufacturers, retailers, and technology providers are noting the tight consumer purse strings and continue to roll out the deals,” commented Tricia Parks, the CEO of Parks Associates. “Consumers want deals; that is their trigger as economic conditions have made them more cautious buyers. Market players must stress the value and convenience of Internet-connected devices. It helps that consumers may choose to save the cost of a video membership and eliminate a trip to the store or kiosk.”