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Las Vegas. Consumer electronics manufacturers, after suffering a rare dip in sales last year, are hoping to bounce back in 2010 with smartphones, e-readers and smaller laptops leading the way.

But in its 2010 forecast, the Consumer Electronics Association provided little cheer to an industry that saw revenue fall by 2 percent in 2009 to $681 billion after registering 14 percent growth in 2008.

“The economic recession that has crept its way around the globe really impacted revenues in 2009,” CEA director of industry analysis Steve Koenig said.

“In 2010, as the world starts to recover, we’re anticipating flat overall revenues, at least at this stage,” he said.

The outlook was encouraging for Asian giants, such as China and India, and South America, Koenig said. “But a lot of this growth we’re seeing in emerging markets is not enough to offset the declines in the developed countries.”

CEA chief economist Shawn DuBravac expected the low-cost laptop computers known as netbooks to be among the stars of the four-day technology extravaganza at the Consumer Electronic Show, starting on Thursday.

One of the biggest players — iPhone maker Apple — will not be represented at CES, however, and neither will mobile smartphone newcomer, the Internet search Goliath Google.

The line between the personal computer and the television set is being increasingly blurred as companies take advantage of Web-enabled TVs to offer new products and services. Among them is Skype, which announced that new high-definition TVs from Panasonic and LG will enable Skype’s free voice and video calls.

Meanwhile, in the nascent electronic book reader category, Amazon is facing growing competition to its popular Kindle and a host of would-be rivals are displaying their wares at CES.



Agence France-Presse