Consumer Electronics

Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic or digital equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes.

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 in 60: New Audi ... by ABC News

Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications, and home-office activities.

Communication is the act of conveying intended meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs and semiotic rules.

Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight.

Small office/home office refers to the category of business or cottage industry that involves from 1 to 10 workers.

Thin Is in at 2012 Consumer Electronics Show by Associated Press

In British English, they are often called brown goods by producers and sellers, to distinguish them from "white goods" such as washing machines and refrigerators.

A refrigerator is a popular household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room.

A major appliance, or domestic appliance, is a large machine in home appliance used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking, washing laundry, or food preservation.

A washing machine is a machine used to wash laundry, such as clothing and sheets.

In the 2010s, this distinction is not always present in large big box consumer electronics stores, such as Best Buy, which sell both entertainment, communications, and home office devices and kitchen appliances such as refrigerators.

Best Buy is an American multinational consumer electronics corporation headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb.

A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain.

Consumer electronics stores differ from professional audio stores in that the former sells consumer-grade electronics for private use, whereas the latter sells professional-grade electronics designed for use by audio engineers and audio technicians.

A professional audio store is a retail business that sells, and in many cases rents, sound reinforcement system equipment and PA system components used in music concerts, live shows, dance parties and speaking events.

An audio engineer works on the recording, manipulating the record using equalization and electronic effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound.

Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver.

Radio broadcasting is a unidirectional wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience.

Later products included telephones, personal computers, MP3 players, audio equipment, televisions and calculators.

A telephone, or phone, is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly.

Television or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome, or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound.

An electronic calculator is a small, portable electronic device used to perform operations ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.

In the 2010s, consumer electronics stores often sell GPS, automotive electronics, video game consoles, electronic musical instruments, karaoke machines, digital cameras, and video players.

Karaoke Japanese: [kaɽaoke], is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which an amateur singer sings along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system.

A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor.

A video game console is an electronic, digital or computer device that outputs a video signal or visual image to display a video game that one or more people can play.

Stores also sell digital cameras, camcorders, cell phones, and smartphones.

A smartphone is a mobile phone with an advanced mobile operating system which combines features of a personal computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or handheld use.

A mobile phone is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area.

As of 2016, some of the newer products sold include virtual reality head-mounted display goggles, smart home devices that connect home devices to the Internet and wearable technology such as Fitbit digital exercise watches.

Fitbit is an American company headquartered in San Francisco, California, known for its products of the same name, which are activity trackers, wireless-enabled wearable technology devices that measure data such as the number of steps walked, heart rate, quality of sleep, steps climbed, and other personal metrics involved in fitness.

Home automation or smart home is the residential extension of building automation and involves the control and automation of lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and security, as well as home appliances such as washerfreezers that use WiFi for remote monitoring.

Virtual reality typically refers to computer technologies that use software to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that replicate a real environment, and simulate a user's physical presence in this environment.

In the 2010s, most products have become based on digital technologies, and have largely merged with the computer industry in what is increasingly referred to as the consumerization of information technology.

Consumerization is the reorientation of product and service designs to focus on the end user as an individual consumer, in contrast with an earlier era of only organization-oriented offerings.

Information technology is the application of computers and internet to store, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data, or information, often in the context of a business or other enterprise.

Some consumer electronics stores, such as Best Buy have also begun selling office and baby furniture.

Consumer electronics stores may be "bricks and mortar" physical retail stores, online stores, where the consumer chooses items on a website and pays online.

Retail involves the process of selling consumer goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit.

or a combination of both models.

The CEA estimated the value of 2015 consumer electronics sales at US$220 billion.