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Smartphones on rampage: next, camcorders

After killing point-and-shoot cameras and GPS units, smartphones take aim to slaughter camcorders

The smartphone is on a device-killing rampage, and camcorders are next on its hit list.

The NPD Group's tally of U.S. sales of consumer electronics during the holiday 2011 period showed a massive 42.5 per cent drop in camcorder sales, and an overall drop of 5.9 per cent (which was an improvement over 2010's 6.2 per cent decline). GPS units and point-and-shoot cameras were also hit hard, dropping 32.6 per cent and 20.8 per cent, respectively. The culprit? Smartphones.

Keep in mind that the NPD Group did not provide sales data for cellphones, tablets, e-readers or video games - some of the most popular consumer gadgets of the past year, especially the tablet. But when you consider that modern smartphones can take high-resolution pictures, record 1080p HD video, and sport GPS apps that have been made by GPS unit manufacturers (as well as play MP3s and serve as portable hard drives - two other products that saw 2011 sales drops), no other product on the market can claim as much responsibility for the death of standalone devices.

So it looks like, now more than ever, that Cisco made a good call bailing on the once-popular Flip camcorder when it did.

Other big losers of 2011 were digital picture frames (down 37.5 percent), hard disk drives (down 20.8 percent), and MP3 players (down 20.5 per cent). However, the report wasn't all doom and gloom; some products saw significant increases in 2011, such as TVs larger than 50 inches (up 32 per cent), 3D TVs (100 per cent), and streaming devices such as Apple TV, Roku, and TiVo (65 percent).

And for those who have put the PC on the deathwatch, sale of those did drop 4 per cent - hardly enough to claim the end of the PC era, but once tablet sales are put into the equation, who knows?

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Apple, Cisco, NPD Group, Roku, Roku, TiVo, TiVo
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