In some cases digital units already outsell the analog models. Digital technology provides clear benefits and flexibility. Digital cordless telephones offer better clarity, security and distance from the base unit. Digital wireless phones also offer better clarity and security along with many new functions, including access to the Internet. Digital television offers a dramatically better picture quality, wider variety of programs, and new ways to store and manipulate images.
Digital audio offers new ways to deliver, store and transport music and voice recordings.
And digital technology enables all of these products to be made smaller and more portable so that we can stay connected to work and family and take information and entertainment with us. Our new name better reflects the diversity of our member companies and the evolution of the products and services the companies offer. Direct-view color TV rose by five percent to top 23 million units, the best since 1995. Perhaps most remarkable is the rise in sales of conventional big screen TVs in the first year of digital television sales. But the fears have proven to be unfounded.