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Ho! Ho! Ho! Here comes Gadget Claus

Tags:
Christmas,
Sony,
Psion,
Clause

ZDNN, US ZDNet US

Published: 06 Dec 1999 09:58 GMT

Not that people won't buy plenty of PCs this Christmas, but early on, the really hot items look to be fashionably light and portable.

Whether it's a Palm organizer from 3Com, a global positioning system or a Nintendo Game Boy, things you can hold in your hand seem to be a big hit with shoppers.

Online sales offer a good indication of that. The Palm V topped bestseller lists on online retailers Amazon.com and Buy.com, and the Palm IIIx was in the top three on both sites.

Plus, the Consumer Electronics Association (formerly the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association), estimates that 34 percent of U.S. households will shop online. It expects nearly a quarter of those will buy a gift, and that some 14 million households will buy a consumer electronics product online. Analysts say that consumers want digital gadgets for several reasons. "In the last two years, the technology has proven itself, and more importantly, the price has come down. A lot of the technologies that people want have become affordable," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Nowhere is that more evident than in the world of handhelds.

Ramping up to be the biggest sellers: Portable devices that connect to a computer. The Palm is one, of course, but a Garmin III Plus Personal Navigator popped into the top five on Amazon.com, and digital cameras look to be selling well.

The Future Image Report, which tracks the digital imaging market, predicts that more than 4.5 million cameras will be sold this year, and calls that number a conservative estimate. The reason: Higher resolution cameras that are much more affordable. "The quality of images now is really good," said Alexis Gerard, publisher of the Future Image Report. "You can go up to an 8-by-10 print and you won't know the difference (from analogue film)." In addition, for the first time, low-cost cameras are available, making the gift not just one for adults.

Gerard says that cameras with VGA quality resolution (640-by-480 resolution) now sell for as little as $65 (£40). Splashy colours and branding, a la the Hot Wheels camera, make these appeal to wired kiddies. "Suddenly, we are making a very popular camera-as-toy proposition, which never really happened with the film variety," notes Gerard.

Where pre-teens want pictures, digital music players rock the digibopper's world.

Last year, Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. pioneered the market with its Rio PMP300 digital music player. This year Diamond is back, with a glitzy new player that has a transparent case and more storage room, for more music. It also has competition. Half a dozen other players have hit the market since last Christmas, including the Nomad from Creative Technologies, the RCA Lyra from Thomson Consumer Electronics and the I-Jam player from I-JAM Multimedia LLC.

While Steve Grady, vice president of marketing for digital music site Emusic.com, expects such players to sell well, he believes that for future Christmases, the players have to be disconnected from the PC.

"What we have out there -- the Rios and the Raves -- are still computer peripherals," he said. "But it will move from a computer technology to a home technology."

Read on to find out why the digital Christmas isn't just pocket-sized.

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