Australians love their TVs

Australia’s growing love affair with flat screen televisions pushed spending on personal and lifestyle technology to more than $4.5 billion in 2006, new figures show.

The Canon Digital Lifestyle Index (CDLI) has found consumers spent twice as much on personal technology last year than they did in 2003.

Partially fuelling this growth was a boost in spending on LCD televisions, which increased 165 per cent in 2006 from the previous year.

Canon’s consumer imaging products group marketing manager Stuart Poignand said retailers were now seeing the impact of massive drops in price of digital technologies on a much broader range of buyers.

“This means more and more Australians can afford products that were out of their reach even as recently as a year or two ago,” Mr Poignand said.

“The major benefit of this from a consumer perspective is that we’re making discerning purchases about the kinds of features and benefits we want in a product, rather than just buying the latest gadget.”

The study also showed Australians were buying digital media players such as iPods, digital still cameras, games consoles and DVD recorders in record numbers.

Source: SMH

Related Links: Canon Digital Life Index