Harveys set for bumper Christmas

Harvey Norman is gearing up for a bumper Christmas sales period and the popular Apple iPod MP3 player will lead the charge with the retail giant expecting to sell in excess of 20,000 units Australia-wide in December.

The notebook business is also "charging at the moment," according to John Slack-Smith, GM of computers and communications at Harvey Norman.

The retailer expected to move around 5000 laptop units this month which would be an increase of 45 to 50 percent on the same period last year, Slack-Smith said.

Notebook brands such as HP and LG would lead sales with LG being "the most significant [laptop market] entrant in 2004," he said.

While market leader Toshiba -- which had secured a large chunk of the notebook market over the past five years -- would be strong over the period, its market share was today "under attack" from new players, he said.

Digital cameras were also expected to perform strongly in December and Slack-Smith claimed that Harvey Norman was set to secure between 20 and 25 percent of the total digital still camera market in this country.