Fergus Cassidy

Plasma boiling

SOUNDING like the keynote speaker at a burglar's convention, analyst Ted Schadler declared "everyone wants to get into the living room".

His remarks are just part of the hoopla which happens every year at this time as the US Consumer Electronics Show hits the stage in Las Vegas. A suitable place for betting on what people will go for in 2005.

It's a trade-only affair with 2,400 exhibitors vying for the attention of 120,000 attendees. That number is down slightly on last year, as applicants were more strictly vetted to keep out rubberneckers. People like me.

Organised by the US Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), this year's show sees the industry in buoyant mood. The CEA has projected growth of 11% this year to $125.7bn. Last year's growth is also estimated at 11%, making it the first time in ten years that back-to-back double digit growth has been achieved.

Predicting what people will buy is not as straightforward as it used to be and no amount of marketing push can guarantee success anymore.

Take Sony's belated entry last year into the digital music player race. Being the one time emperor of portable music players counted for nothing. Sony choose to use its own ATRAC compression format in its digital player.

Prospective buyers walked and the iPod became the apple of their eye. Opening Sony's eyes proved difficult and a spokesman was eventually roused to declare: "I think we feel asleep for a while".

Selling gadgets - big or small - is a tough business these days. Technology aimed at the public is fast-moving and innovation means it just won't sit still and take a breather.

The oceans of disposable income apparently available to buy 'stuff' doesn't always go to the big or cutting-edge players.

Research in Britain last Autumn by a household insurance company claimed that Stg3.1bn was spent last year on unused gadgets. Esure's study revealed a top five "though useful but hardly ever used" objects in 2004.

In at five was the fondue set (Stg86m). At four the electric knife (Stg109m). Number three was the sandwich toaster (Stg377m). At number two was the bread maker (Stg431m) and top of the pile was the foot spa (Stg451m). So fret not if you found any of these under the Christmas tree.

One fifth of adults admitted to never using their vegetable preparation devices and 14% never bothered with their electric tin openers.

With those figures in mind then, what do the big consumer electronics companies have in store for this year? "It's a good time to be in the North American TV industry" gushed a corporation president by way of a hint.

The Consumer Electronics Show is stuffed full of television sets, screens and projectors. It appears the larger the better. Samsung is proudly displaying the world's biggest flat-panel TV with an 8ft 6in plasma screen. That'll bring new meaning to wall-to-wall advertising.

All the electronics giants have giant screens in plasma or liquid crystal form. Industry analysts Forrester Research said that market research it conducted showed 50% of US consumers are looking to buy a large, flat-panel model for their next television purchase.

Getting people to buy these big screen TVs and other devices and gadgets is another matter and some of the electronics companies are keenly pushing the 'lifestyle' connection.

"We've all been trained now to not sit still. If we're not on a BlackBerry, we're on a laptop or on a mobile phone", said one Samsung marketing man.

He's right. I have not been sitting still in response to the imminent attack of the giant TV screens. The postman delivered an eagerly-awaited gadget called TV-B-Gone.

When activated, this keyring-sized masterpiece goes through a string of infrared codes matching over 1000 different television sets until it finds the right one. Then it turns it off.

Whether it's in the bank, the pub, the supermarket, the airport or even in someone's house, I can guarantee you that this is one gadget I intend to get full use of this year.