According to GfK TEMAX results, the notebook market saw considerable growth in Q4 2009 due to a reduction in average prices and the launch of Windows 7. The news isn’t as good for the digital imagining sector, which suffered a significant decline in value for the period.

In terms of the consumer IT sector, sustained high sales of notebook PCs propelled the category to a 20 per cent increase in value compared to the fourth quarter 2008. The news was also good in terms of the full calendar year results, with a 24 per cent increase.

This exceptional performance has been reasoned on the launch of Windows 7 at the start of the quarter, together with reduced average prices and a growing demand for digital products.

According to GfK, retail promotions helped average sale prices drop to under $1,000 for the first time in Australia. This lower price point and the improvements in technical specifications helped cause a substantial increase in sales volume for the period.

Unfortunately the digital imaging sector was hit hard in the fourth quarter, with a 17 per cent value decline compared to the same period in 2008.

A large proportion of this deficit was caused by the digital photo frame sector which witnessed a 34 per cent drop in spending. This drop was due to an increased volume of cheaper tertiary-branded products on the market, which in turn cause significant price erosion.

Compact digital cameras represented 78 per cent of all digital cameras sold in 2009, but value was also significantly down with a drop of 14 per cent.