Consumer electronics prices fell 3.1% in May

The price of 42-inch enhanced definition plasma TVs dropped $86 from April, while 32-inch direct view TV prices fell $52. Portable DVD players cost $30 less compared to the previous month, and 15-inch notebooks declined $65. The monthly pricing monitor of NPD is based on 27 product categories, including televisions, computers, cameras and media players. In May, retail prices for goods in this basket dropped another 3.1%, the sharpest sequential fall since November. In April, the fall was 2%. The overall value of the products is now pegged at $12,362, which is more than $1,000 lower than what it was at the beginning of the year, and about $2,600 lower than in May 2003. This amounts to a decline of 17.4% over the past year. Previously the prices have gone down by 3%.