Consumer Electronics Association expects over 18 million consoles to ship to US stores in Q4

The Consumer Electronics Association has conducted a phone survey which has given the firm an idea of how many consoles which will ship to US stores for the holiday shopping season.

According to the CEA's 17th annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns Study results, via Reuters, the firm has concluded that 18.24 million units will ship during Q4 2010, putting it ahead of digital cameras and music players, along with television sets.

CEA has consoles as the ninth most popular wish list item for adults, and a solid fifth on the consumer electronics item list. iPad was third on the consumer wish list and placed second on the electronics list.

The top item wanted under the tree this year, though was a notebook or laptop PC, followed by Apple's iPad, eReaders, iPods and video game systems - overall.

Among the of 1,003 US adults surveyed by the CEA, 73 percent of US adults intend to give electronics as presents this year, which is up from 67 percent in 2009. According to those polled, 60 percent intend to purchse the items at brick-and-mortar stores, while 46 percent plan to purchase online.

The CEA says  the average consumer will spend $232 on electronics, which is  up 5 percent from last year, but still expects the average holiday gift spending to fall 2 percent overall to $750 from $764, with more going toward electronics.