Australia spends $13.8 billion in 9 months on consumer IT

17.11.2009
Notebooks and smartphones have continued to drive consumer spending on technology goods in the July to September period with a 4.2 per cent rise over the same period in 2008, according to GfK.

In its quarterly TEMAX index tracking consumer spending, the analyst firm noted Australians have spent $13.8 billion on consumer technology in the nine months to the end of September for a rise of 8.4 per cent over the same period in 2008.

Spending on IT in the third quarter far outgrew consumer electronics and household items with a year-on-year rise of 20.8 per cent compared to around two per cent for the former.

Although lower than the 27 per cent and 39 per cent experienced in the first two quarters of the calendar year, a 22 per cent rise year-on-year in spending on notebooks was "impressive" according to GfK with sales driven by demand for higher capacity devices.

External hard disk drive sales shot up 45 per cent over the same period in 2008 with 1 terabyte models proving popular, a GfK statement read.

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