While overall growth slowed, there were some categories which experienced continued growth and at better rates than 2005. Notebook computers are one example, with a nearly 35% revenue growth and nearly 64% unit growth over 2005 compared to the nearly 16% revenue and 41% unit growth seen in 2005. The average price of a notebook computer dropped from $852 in 2005 to $701 in 2006. Overall PC unit volume was up 31% 2006 versus 27% 2005. One area of the IT industry which saw a big jump in sales was storage. This trend has been accelerating all year and Black Friday sales gave it another big push forward. Flash memory sales increased about 30% in revenue and 76% in units. USB drives grew 55% in revenue and an astounding 93.5% in units. Hard drives were also an easy sell for Black Friday with a 33% increase in revenue and 58.5% increase in unit volume.
GPS navigation followed a path of success for Black Friday. Revenue was up 262% and unit sales experienced a 670% increase from 2005. The average price of a GPS system dropped dramatically from $684 in 2005 to $322 in 2006. Digital cameras captured a good portion of Black Friday sales. Revenue increased over 13% and units were up 26% compared to 2005. The average price of a digital camera dropped to around $163 compared to the average $182 consumers spent in 2005. MP3 players experienced a major slowdown, consistent with year-to-date sales, but still increased unit and dollar volumes over 2005. MP3 player revenue was up nearly 14% and units were up 26%. Average prices dropped from around $123 to $111.
| 2006 Top 5 Revenue Producing Categories | ||
| Category | Revenue, mln. | Share |
| LCD TVs | $275 | 13.2% |
| Notebook PCs | $205 | 9.8% |
| Digital Cameras | $182 | 8.7% |
| Plasma TVs | $148 | 7.1% |
| MP3 Players | $123 | 5.9% |
| Source: NPD Group | ||