| As the most populous city in Southern | | | | electronics are previewed yearly at the |
| California, Los Angeles has a huge number of | | | | Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV, |
| consumer electronics stores. With just about | | | | which is near to Los Angeles, at which many |
| 50 Circuit City stores and 18 Best Buys, two | | | | industry pioneers make speeches including |
| of the largest electronics retailers are | | | | Microsoft's Bill Gates. |
| plentiful indeed. One can also add to that, | | | | |
| the over 1,000 smaller shops and chain stores | | | | One interesting characteristic of the |
| and you can see a situation where the | | | | consumer electronic field is the continuous |
| populace has many choices as they go on the | | | | trend of lower prices. Industry insiders |
| lookout for their next big screen TV. | | | | posit that such a development is caused by |
| | | | gains in manufacturing efficiency and more |
| The phrase consumer electronics is associated | | | | use of automation, combined with many |
| with electronic equipment built for everyday | | | | improvements in semiconductors. The popularly |
| use. The products are most often utilized for | | | | observed Moore's Law, says that, for a |
| communications, entertainment and personal | | | | specific price, electronics industry |
| productivity. Leading consumer electronics | | | | functionality doubles every 18 months. |
| products include PCs, phones, audio | | | | |
| equipment, televisions, and calculators. | | | | Consumer electronics in Los Angeles and |
| Popular brands of electronics include many | | | | elsewhere in the country, and in the world, |
| huge domestic and foreign manufacturers, such | | | | continue in a trend of functional |
| as Apple, Philips, Samsung, Sanyo, Sony and | | | | combinations, wherein a DVD player and |
| Toshiba, among others. | | | | television become a media center, combining |
| | | | characteristics of several electronic items. |
| The Consumer Electronics Association projects | | | | Consumers face difficult decisions when |
| 2007 nationwide consumer electronics | | | | looking for electronics items. It is starting |
| purchases at 150 billion dollars. A very | | | | to be more about a product's style and price, |
| large portion of those sales can be found in | | | | as opposed to its specifications and |
| Los Angeles, and other major cites like New | | | | performance. |
| York and Boston. | | | | |
| | | | On the negative side, loads of consumer |
| As already noted, consumer electronics are | | | | electronics result in e-waste. It is thought |
| built around the globe, though there is an | | | | that in 2003 the United States alone |
| extremely high concentration of manufacturing | | | | generated over 2.8 million tons of electronic |
| performed in Asia, particularly China and | | | | waste. No more than 10 percent of that amount |
| Singapore. The most cutting-edge consumer | | | | was recycled. |