What Tech Have People Been Buying in 2008?

As the New Year looms expect to be bombarded with tonnes of lists about what has happened in the last year: the most searched word of the most visited website. However eBay have been a little ahead of themselves and have released their ‘end of year’ figures already, but although they may be a month early, they give a good indication as to what has happened in the commercial world within the last year and what is popular.

So, here is the top 15 tech toys and gadgets that were sold on eBay in the last year including related items (such as controllers):

1. Nintendo Wii: 2,056,866 related items sold
2. Microsoft Xbox 360: 1,297,903 related items sold
3. Sony PSP: 350,591 related items sold
4. iPod Touch: 281,361 related items sold
5. Nintendo Wii Fit: 266,584 related items sold
6. Apple iPhone 3G: 212,837 related items sold
7. BlackBerry Pearl: 207,688 related items sold
8. BlackBerry Curve: 193,788 related items sold
9. Sony Playstation 3: 103,333 related items sold
10. Guitar Hero III: 98,159 related items sold
11. Halo 3: 91,067 related items sold
12. Grand Theft Auto IV: 43,005 related items sold
13. MacBook Air: 12,423 related items sold
14. Guitar Hero Aerosmith: 3,749 related items sold
15. Rock Band 2’s: 1,650 related items sold

The first thing that springs to mind is how games dominated this list with 10 of the 15 items being consoles or games: this really was the year of the game. There are also a few surprises regarding the positioning of some of these, so let’s look at them in more detail.

The console battle has been raging for some time, and predictably the much sought after Wii topped the list over with 700,000 more items sold than the Xbox 360. This really is a big win for Nintendo, and coupled with the fact that the Wii Fit (probably the most wanted console accessory ever) was 5th shows just how big the Wii phenomenon is. However the 360 didn’t do too badly either scoring massively higher than the PS3, in fact looking at these statistics you would be forgiven for thinking that the Sony offering was a complete failure but you have to bear in mind that there are a lot more accessories for the 360, and that the Microsoft console has a much higher sell on rate.

However Sony made up for this deficit with the PSP which has surprisingly not only outsold the iPhone and its console counterpart, but also the Nintendo DS which doesn’t even get a look in. Apple also didn’t do too badly with the iPod touch 4th, iPhone 6th and the MacBook Air 13th: the touch outselling all rivals and the iPhone just beating the BlackBerry pair. The Curve and Pearl sold very well with both around the 200,000 mark, and one suspects that had this list been released three months later the Bold would be joining them.

So let’s just have a quick look at how the separate manufacturers fared compared to each other before looking at the games:

1. Nintendo: 2,323,450 related items sold
2. Microsoft: 1,297,903 related items sold
3. Apple: 506,621 related items sold
4. Sony: 453,924 related items sold
5. BlackBerry: 401,476 related items sold

As you can see Nintendo are sitting quite nicely at the top with Sony struggling to stay above Blackberry at the bottom.

The only other real thing on the list apart from the consoles and solitary laptops are the games, which are pretty much dominated by three completely different games all of which have their merits. Predictably Halo 3 and Guitar Hero 3 are the highest ranking both due to the build up created by them: Halo benefiting from hardcore fans but suffering from the fact that you can only buy it on a single platform and Guitar Hero benefiting from a wide audience and its pure addictive nature. The other major contender GTA 4 didn’t do too badly either managing to get in the top 15.

However there is more than one Guitar Hero title there and that is a sign of the following that it has, although there is good and bad news in this. On the plus side the Aerosmith version sold very well considering that it was competing against its big brother, and the Rock Band made an appearance as well. However I am sure that the folks at Guitar Hero expected it to be more popular that it is, maybe even more than Guitar Hero 3, but it just goes to show that gamers still have price sense.

All in all these figures are very interesting and show a lot about what has happened this year. But although these do not show raw sales (thus profits to the companies) it does give a better indicator as to how popular these products are, and how much they are in demand. It would appear that there is a good reason why you can’t get a Wii this Christmas…

Source – TechCrunch

Related Pages:

1. MusicSkins Review (Personalise Hi-Tech Gadgets With Skins)
2. WildCharge – Wireless Charging Your Hi-Tech Gadgets (inc iPhone)
3. Nintendo DSi vs Sony PSP 3000
4. Apple Tablet Preview & Consumer Survey Results
5. Hi-Tech Gadget Christmas Competition Roundup (2009)

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