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What will 2012 bring for tech? JB Hi-Fi has the crystal ball out and is making some forecasts, which includes mass tab consumption, Ultra PCs and 4G smarties.
 Asus Ultrabook |
Tabs and Ultrabooks are the order of day in 2012, while Sony’s Vita will also be on consumer wish lists.
That’s according to retail giant JB HiFi who made some interesting tech predictions for the year ahead, yesterday.
Ultrabooks, the ultra thin and light laptop with split second boot up, will “drive further replacement” in computing sector while tabs will see “continued growth”, the retailer believes.
This is in line with predictions by most tech analysts.
Tabs grew by 186.2% in Q4 compared to the year prior according to Canalys, who also note a rise in shipments of notebooks by 57.9m last quarter, meaning Ultrabooks could feed this category again in 2012.
Deloitte’s tech predictions for 2012 also back this up, forecasting “record numbers” of smartphones and tablets sold as well as PCs “of all descriptions,” who also predicted the rise of the rise of the “multi-tablet owner.”
JB currently sells almost 20 tablet models from Moto’s Xoom, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Apple’s iPad 2, although the retailer would not comment on specific models that will be big hits in 2012, when contacted by SmartHouse.
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| Viva la Vita in 2012? |
Yesterday, the yellow retailer announced sales hike of 6.7% to $1.77bn, defying the doom and gloom promulgated by rivals like Harvey Norman.
And Ultrabooks, the new laptop category invented by Intel to save the category being gobbled up by tabs, will also be a best seller. It currently sells 11 models in total ranging from 11″ to 13″ from Samsung, Acer and Asus.
On the storage front, there will also be more memory devices in the market following a shortage brought on by production issues from the Thailand floods, which could potentially mean lower prices for consumers.
And good news for camera lovers – prices of cameras will also drop further as direct imports from foreign distributors flood the market here, which JB already offers via its ‘direct import’ option on its website.
Sony’s PS Vita, the handheld gaming device due out this month will also be the main hit in the industry this year, according to JB H-Fi who reported lower sales of Nintendo Wii and DS, although said Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox consoles sold well.
On the phones front, 4G devices which includes the recently unveiled 4G HTC Velocity on Telstra, and the iPhone 5 rumoured to be 4G ready – due this year – are also to be sure runners, the retailer believes.
4G Tabs with super fast web speeds are also to hit consumers this year, with SmartHouse just revealing Samsung’s secret plans for a 7.2″ Galaxy Tab device on Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
The market is expected to remain competitive “across all categories” and expect “constant technology innovation” as all the main vendors fight it out to be big in smartphone, PC and gaming industry.
The discount retailer is also to begin flogging musical instruments this year, which it says will also drive sales growth.
