In the consumer-electronics marketplace in Germany, analogue products such as cathode-ray-tube televisions, record players and videocassette recorders are all but extinct, an industry group said on Monday.
Bitkom, the electronics industry federation, said 95 per cent of products sold were digital.
“It has taken just a few years for modern digital technology to displace the analogue types of device that had been current for decades,” said Jeffry van Ede, a Bitkom board member in Berlin.
Flat-panel televisions play a big role in the numbers. Back in 2000 in Germany, retailers sold just 56,000 flat panels and 6 million tube TVs in Germany. This year Bitkom forecasts sales of 9.6 million flat panels and 41,000 tube TVs in Germany.
Bitkom issued the figures four days before the IFA trade show in Berlin, the biggest consumer electronics trade fair in Europe.
