• by Wayne Friedman , January 7, 2010

The consumer electronics industry will see slightly higher overall revenue in 2010 -- but TV set sales won't help. The consumer electronics is expected to reach $166 billion in shipment revenues this year in 2010 -- a slight increase, 0.6% over 2009's $164.9 billion.

This is according to the Consumer Electronics Association, which announced the projections with the opening of the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The group says consumer electronics in 2009 witnessed a sharp decline -- almost 8% from the year before -- from 2008's $178.6 number.

Television set revenue is expected to drop to $22 billion in 2010, although unit sales will climb to more than 37 million. Much of this is due to consumers transitioning to HD, flat-panel sets. CEA projects sales of more than 4 million 3D television sets in 2010.

One of the bright spots in 2009 came with blu-ray players, which saw unit sales rise 155% over 2008, rising to a total of $1 billion in revenue. 2010 revenues are expected to increase to $1.4 billion.

The group also expects the wireless handset category to be strong in 2010, with new smartphones the biggest product driver, generating nearly $17 billion in shipment revenue and more than 52 million unit sales.

CEA says computer sales -- especially from new, more powerful netbooks -- will improve results in 2010, estimating that more than 30 million notebooks will be sold, generating more than $14 billion in revenue.

CEA is bolstered by the fact that CES will have 330 new exhibitors this year, among the 2,500 companies.