COMPUTERS, gadgets and gizmos are cheaper than ever, less than half the price they were three years ago.
The Herald Sun compared the prices of 12 products, including home theatre equipment, music players and cameras in 2004 and now.
In 2004, the package would have cost consumers $22,338, but today the same products would cost just $12,403.
Greater demand, increased competition and the strong Aussie dollar have contributed to the drop in prices, industry experts say.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, just released, revealed consumer goods are the cheapest they’ve been for nine years.
The March quarter saw the price of computers drop 4.6 per cent, electronic goods fall 3.6 per cent, mobile phones drop 2.4 per cent and cameras fall 2.4 per cent.
And there’s no end in sight to the price drop.
The household goods were top of the line three years ago, including a Toshiba set-top box, Apple’s iPod and iBook, cameras, a plasma screen TV and Sony’s PlayStation 2 (recently superseded by the PS3).
The most drastic price cut was the popular Motorola V3 mobile phone. In 2004, it cost a staggering $1399, but consumers can pocket one today for just $195.
A 127cm Pioneer plasma screen TV is almost half the price, despite being better quality.
Today, it costs $5499 compared with $9999 three years ago, and now comes with a built-in high-definition tuner.
Pioneer spokesman Michael Broadhurst said the market had been flooded with high-quality electronics, driving prices down.
“Across the board, prices have fallen significantly thanks to the large amount of fierce competition in the television, home theatre and DVD recorder categories,’’ he said.
“The more demand there is the more volume will be produced and the greater the volume the more cost-effective it becomes to manufacture and supply products to the market, allowing companies to be more price competitive.’’
Canon spokeswoman Roslyn Richardson said all the camera products surveyed had seen features and technology dramatically improve while the prices had significantly reduced.
The survey also found prices had dropped massively in the past four years, with plasma screens falling 20.8 per cent in 2006 alone. (The Herald Sun)