Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics is a term used to describe the category of electronic equipment intended for everyday use by people, the consumers. Consumer electronics are most often used in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Some products classed as consumer electronics include personal computers, telephones, audio equipment, televisions, calculators, and playback and recording of video media such as DVD or VHS. Popular brands of consumer electronics include a wide range of American and Japanese based companies including Apple, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, JVC and others.
Consumer electronics are manufactured throughout the world, although there is a particularly high concentration of manufacturing activity in the Far East, in particular China and Singapore, amongst other countries. [citation needed] The latest consumer electronics are previewed yearly at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, at which many industry pioneers speak including Bill Gates from Microsoft.
One overriding characteristic of all consumer electronic products is the trend of ever-falling prices. This is driven by gains in manufacturing efficiency and automation, coupled with improvements in semiconductor design. Semiconductor components benefit from Moore's Law, an observed principle which states that, for a given price, semiconductor functionality doubles every 18 months.
Environment
Many consumer electronics have planned obsolescence, resulting in E-waste. It is estimated that during 2003 the US alone generated over 2.8 million tons of electronic waste. Less than 10% of that amount was recovered (reused or recycled).